We’re only a few short days into the new year and 2025 has officially claimed its first fallen show. That’s right, the new year has only just kicked off and, unfortunately, we already have our first cancellation of the year with HBO deciding to pull the plug on The Franchise after just one season.
Days into the new year, HBO has decided to pull the plug on its superhero industry satire comedy after just one season. The decision, which was first confirmed by Deadline, comes weeks after the show’s now series finale aired on Nov. 24 and will bring the show’s run to an end after just eight episodes.
“We’re so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the tremendously talented team behind The Franchise, especially Sam Mendes, Jon Brown, Armando Iannucci, and this hilarious ensemble of actors,” an HBO spokesperson said in a statement confirming the show's cancellation. “While we won’t be moving forward with another season, we look forward to collaborating with all of them in the future.”
While the show managed to earn rave reviews among critics, audiences didn’t quite warm up to the show in the way HBO hoped with the series failing to make waves among viewers. In fact, it never even managed to crack the Top 10 streaming rankings which is never a good thing, especially for a new series as networks tend to be a little more lenient to veteran hits than flailing freshman shows.
Starring Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Jessica Hynes, Billy Magnussen, Lolly Adefope, Darren Goldstein, and Isaac Powell, The Franchise looked to draw inspiration from the superhero franchise machine by following the crew working on a struggling superhero movie franchise.
It seems almost ironic that the show failed to succeed or make any waves when trying to parody superhero franchises when it was a superhero show that took audiences by storm in October and became a true hit. We’re referring to Agatha All Along which made headlines during the fall, captivating viewers and becoming one of the season’s breakout hits.
Agatha All Along landed several Golden Globe nominations, is favored to be nominated at the Emmys and is rumored to be getting a second season, while The Franchise came and went without much love at all. Perhaps HBO would have faired better tapping into the superhero genre instead of poking fun at one of the most successful genres in the industry.
And just like that, we have our first canceled show of the year. As for how many shows might join it in the year ahead? There’s no telling, but given it only took a few days into the new year for the first show to be canceled we have a feeling it could be an interesting year ahead for TV fans.