Fox Just Canceled A Fan-Favorite Series Going Into Season 2
Fox just canceled Fantasy Island.
With the Writer’s Guild strike in full swing, many productions are throwing in the towel and announcing their cancelations earlier than usual. Today, via The Hollywood Reporter, Fox revealed that the party was over on Fantasy Island as the series will receive the ax following its recently wrapped second season. After a total of 23 episodes, the fantasy is over on this reboot of the 1977-1984-running ABC series.
Although its cancelation comes amid the WGA strike, the movement itself is absolutely not to blame, as the series has been seeing lower and lower viewership numbers over its two seasons on air. Premiering in the summer of 2021, Fantasy Island wasn’t a big winner for the network, with audiences not completely enthralled by the drama unfolding on their screens for one hour each week. The second season was even worse, with only 2.74 million viewers tuning in and only raking in a 0.27 rating in the demographic of adults from 18-49.
Still, Fox was proud of what they were able to accomplish by breathing new life into a once-popular series, with the network commenting that they were “pleased” with what Fantasy Island was able to deliver via its storyline. Although they wished it would’ve brought in a wider audience, they said that they were ultimately happy with what was accomplished during the show’s two-season run and are excited to see what’s in store for their partnership with Sony Pictures Television, with whom they’ll move forward with shows including Accused, Alert: Missing Persons Unit, Doc, and the new animated series, Universal Basic Guys/Hoagie Bros.
Given a fresh lease on life by Angel and The Shield alums, Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain, Fantasy Island picked up the story from the original Ricardo Montalban-led series of yesteryear. In it, Roselyn Sánchez starred as Elena Roarke, the grand-niece of Sánchez’s Mr. Roarke from the original series. Picking up the family business, Elena caters to the whims and desires of the high-rolling clientele who expect all their dreams to be fulfilled during their trip to the tropical locale. The series also starred Kiara Barnes, John Gabrial Rodriquez, Gabriela Z. Hernández, Daniel Lugo, María Gabriela González, and Alexa Mansour.
Fantasy Island finds itself as the next in a long line of titles canceled by Fox for the upcoming year. Audiences will be bidding adieu to the Mayim Bialik-led series Call Me Kat as well as Monarch and The Resident. The network also bid adieu to 911 but ABC quickly snatched the series up to give it another chance.
It’s that time of the year again when networks are breaking the hearts of not only their employees but also the dedicated fandoms that have kept their shows alive over the years. While some titles, including The CW’s The Winchesters, are still awaiting their fates, others like Fantasy Island, Walker: Independence, and True Lies have already been given the bad news. In the end, not every show is going to make it, and even less will have the luck that kept S.W.A.T. alive following its initial cancellation at CBS.
