Well, tonight brings bad news for Sleepyheads everywhere, as it was just revealed that Fox's supernatural drama Sleepy Hollow has been cancelled and won't be back for Season 5.
The most recent season of Sleepy Hollow saw the show attempt an almost complete retooling after the Season 3 departure of series star Nichole Beharie, who decided to leave the show and was written out via her character's death in the Season 3 finale. Even though her co-star, Tom Mison, stuck around, fans were shocked to see that there would be no supernatural trickery involved in bringing her character, Abbie Mills, back from the dead. As such, the show brought on several new actors to fill the void, including Janina Gavankar as Mison's new co-star. But, the new blood on the series did nothing to stem the tide of viewers who were abandoning the show, and the ratings simply weren't enough to encourage Fox to give the show another season. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Season 4 averaged 3.2 million viewers with seven days of DVR viewership accounted for, which was down a considerable amount from the average in Season 3.
The show finished its fourth season at the end of March, and fans have been awaiting word on whether or not the show would get a chance to continue, especially since the last episode brought viewers a bit of a shocker. The episode, which obviously turned out to be the series finale, saw lead protagonist Ichabod Crane sell his soul to the devil in order to help Team Witness beat the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Now, it looks like the only way we'll get to find out how Ichabod saves his immortal soul will be if we all get down to business and start writing some fan fiction.
When Sleepy Hollow premiered in the fall of 2013, it garnered an almost immediate fanbase who became committed to the show and, especially, the possibility of a romance between Abbie and Ichabod, to the point where fans nicknamed their preferred couple Ichabbie. The show was a joy to behold in that first season. It had the perfect mix of an overarching mystery, monsters of the week, sexual tension and co-star chemistry, humor and some genuinely scary moments.
After a standout Season 1, though, it was clear to even diehard fans that the creative direction of the show was lagging. And, while some stuck with Sleepy Hollow in the hopes that it would return to those former creative highs, once it was clear that Beharie and her Abbie Mills were gone for good, many felt that the heart of show had been effectively ripped out, and simply couldn't be bothered to stick around for the next phase of the drama.
Ah, Sleepyheads...Sleepy Hollow was so amazing when it was good and so disappointing when it wasn't. Now, excuse me while I bury myself in my Sleepy Hollow journal and figure out a way to undo Abbie's death just in time to help Ichabod get his soul back. Be sure to check out our summer premiere schedule and Netflix premiere guide to see what else you can catch on the small screen in the coming weeks.
