'NOS4A2' Showrunner Confirms AMC Has Canceled The Series
Looks like we've seen the last of NOS4A2.
AMC's vampire drama has received a wooden stake through the heart, with showrunner Jami O'Brien explaining that the network has officially canceled the show after two seasons. Read O'Brien's response to the cancelation below.
NOS4A2 Canceled
CONGRATULATIONS to every single member of our phenomenal team on two seasons of weird and wonderful TV. I will miss seeing everyone back in Little Rhody this year, but I'm awfully proud of all we've done together... 2/4
— Jami O'Brien (@jami_obrien) August 31, 2020
And THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart to everyone who tuned in — especially to those who tweeted along with us each week — you made Sunday nights a lot of fun. Hope to do it again with you all somewhere down the road... xoxoxo 4/4
— Jami O'Brien (@jami_obrien) August 31, 2020
Based on the book by acclaimed novelist Joe Hill, NOS4A2 told the story of Vic McQueen (Ashleigh Cummings), a young woman who discovers she has a supernatural ability to find lost things. That power led to a face-off with an evil and immortal being known as Charlie Manx (Zachary Quinto), who literally ate the souls of children to stay eternally young and deposited the leftovers at a place called Christmasland — a twisted location where every day is Christmas Day and unhappiness is against the law.
In the second season, Vic – now several years older – is still determined to destroy Charlie Manx. When Charlie decides that the best way to get his revenge on our heroine is to go after her eight-year-old son, Wayne, Vic is forced to confront the mistakes of her past to rescue her child and potentially put an end to Charlie Manx, once and for all.
In previous interviews, O'Brien had spoken about her plans for a possible NOS4A2 season 3, which would have traced the aftermath of Vic and Wayne's confrontation with Charlie and explored the lasting effects that encounter may have had on their family. The existing seasons caught up with the events of Joe Hill's 2013 novel, so a third season would have gone beyond the source material and into uncharted territory. That's always a risky prospect: you could end up with a situation like The Handmaid's Tale, which took a precipitous dive in quality after reaching the end of Margaret Atwood's original story, or you could end up with something more like Watchmen, which expanded beyond the original comic and ended up being one of the best seasons of TV of this century.
While the cancelation of a show in this day and age isn't always as permanent as it once was, thanks to an abundance of streaming services that are always looking to snap up content with a built-in fanbase and a proven audience, it doesn't sound like NOS4A2 is going to get saved by another platform. The phrase "hope to do it again with you all" makes it seem like the door is closed and O'Brien is already fantasizing about showrunning a different series.