While every TV series that starts is bound to have a final episode, it’s never a fun moment as an audience member when the life of a series you’ve been following gets unexpectedly cut short. That is sadly the fate of Hulu’s UnPrisoned, as star Kerry Washington revealed on her social media on Friday.
UnPrisoned’s second season premiered in the 2024 TV schedule over the summer, but as it turns out those eight episodes will be the last we see of Paige and Edwin Alexander’s father-daughter relationship. Check out Washington’s emotional Instagram announcement:
The actress and executive producer shared a sweet montage from the set of UnPrisoned that featured a lot of dancing, laughing, and John Stamos, all to the tune of SZA’s “Snooze”. Along with saying “that is a wrap on UnPrisoned,” she wrote these words:
This beautiful show that we poured so much of our hearts and souls into is unfortunately not coming back for a Season 3. But I wanted you to hear it from me because while we’re super duper disappointed, we’re also crazy deeply grateful. Making this show was a labor of love. And we know that so many of you found connection and healing with The Alexander Family - and that their impact will live on!
The series first premiered for those with a Hulu subscription in March 2023 to rave reviews from critics and audiences (just look at the Rotten Tomatoes score) and thus the production continued with a second season, which had its episodes drop just two months ago. The series is about Paige Alexander (Washington), who is a marriage family therapist and single mother whose life gets upended when her father, Edwin (Delroy Lindo), is released from prison after seventeen years there. He moves in with Paige and her teenage son.
UnPrisoned was Kerry Washington’s first ongoing series since Scandal ended in 2018 (even though her co-star Tony Goldwyn totally wants to work with her again). Washington has spoken before about trying to quit acting many times before reading a script that changes her mind. Here’s hoping the cancellation of UnPrisoned doesn’t steer her away from doing more TV, because we love her presence on our television screens. As she also wrote in the statement:
We are soooooo grateful to the entire cast & crew - who are not only brilliant and hardworking, but a JOY to work with! Thank you to our fellow producers and all our writers and directors for leading and guiding and inspiring us. Thank you to ABCS, Hulu & Onyx for giving us a creative home. And most importantly, we are grateful to YOU ALL - for watching, laughing, crying, yelling, dancing, eye-rolling, cheering (and all of the things between) along with us each episode. It was such a blessing. And we thank you ❤️
Sadly, it's time to add UnPrisoned to our list of cancelled and ending 2024 shows. The series joins a couple of other series that the streaming service cancelled this year like Life & Beth and Death and Other Details. Despite its cancellation, you can still stream UnPrisoned right now.
