Dear Edward Just Canceled After One Season
Apple TV+ has canceled Dear Edward after one season.
Sometimes, a show is only good for one season, and it’s by design; a 10-episode run is all that is needed to tell the story, and leave a satisfying ending for viewers. In the case of Apple TV‘s Dear Edward, however, the show was left open-ended, but will not be picked up for a second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Though producer Jason Katims stated that Apple was a fan of the show, and he was more than ready to explore new territory in season 2, it seems as if Apple ultimately decided to pull the plug on the series.
The story of Dear Edward is an adaptation of the Ann Napolitano novel of the same name. It follows the story of 12-year-old Edward Adler, the lone survivor of a plane crash, and the grief that follows. And despite the show’s 65 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is a high enough score to be considered a positive rating, the subject matter may have just been too heavy.
In fact, Hollywood Reporter’s chief TV critic expressed that the subject matter for Dear Edward was hard to process, stating, “Ten episodes of nonstop grief, even well-crafted grief, is a lot of grief.” But sometimes we need to get all the grief out of the way in the first season to explore what comes next in season 2. Katims stated that the second season may not have been so dark, but for now, and probably indefinitely, we’ll have to be happy with the 10 episodes we have.
Season 1 of Dear Edward did set the plot up for a second season, however. At the end of the 10-episode run, Edward discovers letters that were sent to him from other families impacted by the plane crash, as well as a long-lost family member of his own. In other words, though Season 1 was mostly about processing trauma, season 2 could have potentially been about picking up the pieces, and forming new relationships in the wake of a tragedy.
But Katims isn’t seeing this as a total loss, and maybe the positive fan response will be instrumental in changing Apple’s mind sometime down the road. Katims stated that “it feels similar to what happened with Friday Night Lights and Parenthood where, as we get to know the characters after four or six episodes, viewers get connected and invested in them.” And this is absolutely the case with Dear Edward, a show that has told a story of resilience, and overcoming immense grief.
The cancellation of Dear Edward isn’t the first time that one of Katim’s shows was preemptively ended after its first season. His popular show, As We See It, a comedy-drama about roommates on the autism spectrum who are trying to navigate through life in their 20s, was also canceled after one season, despite the fact that the writers of the show were well into developing the Season 2.
Whether this is the definitive end of the series, or simply just a goodbye for now, Katims has gone on record saying that he’s proud of what Dear Edward accomplished, and he’s glad that fans connected with the series during its short, one-season run. But for fans of Katim’s work, rest assured he is working on three shows with Imagine Television, that have yet to be titled.
