Blood Drive has been cancelled, and if the series is to have a Season 2, it's not happening at Syfy. Series creator James Roland took to Wordpress and blogged to fans that he had waited to deliver the news after the Season 1 finale, which aired last night, so as to not soil the experience. While Roland is pretty clear Season 2 is not happening anytime soon, fans of Blood Drive shouldn't get too discouraged, as it appears there's still hope for this grindhouse feature yet.
While he's not entirely optimistic in his blog, James Roland says he hasn't given up on approaching NBC Universal with plans for a Season 2 of the series "when the time comes." Roland notes that he doesn't harbor any ill will towards Syfy or NBC, and tells fans that while plenty of networks passed on Blood Drive, they took a risk on him. The series, which featured tons of gore and the typical grindhouse raunchiness, had a good start with over 800,000 tuning in for the premiere, but the ratings dropped to an average of 400,000 viewers throughout the season. While the series received decent love from critics, it seems doubtful that NBC will take the risk on a Season 2 if the viewership numbers are that low.
That's not to say it's impossible, though, as James Roland encourages fans of Blood Drive to share #RenewBloodDrive wherever they can. Already, fans are tweeting out the hashtag in addition to their sadness regarding Syfy's decision to drop the series. Others have taken the activist route and signed a petition urging Syfy, Netflix, HBO, and others to check out the series and take a chance on it for the sake of fans.
As of this writing, the current petition on Change.org sits at a little under half of the 1,000 signature goal it's set for, although one would think they'd need a lot more signatures than that to get any network to work with Roland. For example, the Sense8 petition netted 524,726 signatures before Netflix agreed to bring the cancelled series back for a two-hour special, and with Blood Drive looking to get a full Season 2, that seems like a tall order if they can't push those numbers higher. If Blood Drive doesn't get picked up for Season 2, James Roland encourages his "Bleeders," not to be discouraged, as they got to enjoy the ride while it lasted. Roland also points out that a lack of new episodes presents the fan base with the opportunity to continue the story in any way they should choose, although that might sound like a pretty crappy consolation to any fan upset right now.
The cancellation of Blood Drive comes just on the heels of Syfy canceling Dark Matter, and the announcement that Killjoys has set its official end date as well. Those scorned by Syfy's latest decisions regarding programming needn't fear as our fall premiere guide has a few good options for new science fiction related shows. Those who find that list a bit lacking can also visit our Netflix guide and see if the streaming giant has any sci-fi gems worth checking out.
