History has guaranteed that two of its series will be things of the past, but at least one of its scripted shows isn't going anywhere... yet, anyway. Although the network hasn't given the axe to Vikings, that's not the case for Project Blue Book and Knightfall. Yes, History cancelled two of its three remaining scripted series, and Vikings' survival comes with a catch.
As Vikings fans undoubtedly know, the show is set to end at the conclusion of its sixth season, and only one half of Season 6 remains before the final credits roll. A TV spinoff of Vikings is happening, but at Netflix rather than History. With the cancellations of Project Blue Book and Knightfall, according to THR, History only has one half-season of an ongoing scripted series left.
Vikings hasn't received a premiere date for the second half of Season 6, although it's expected to return to History later in 2020. Unfortunately for Knightfall and Project Blue Book, they won't be back at all. News of the cancellations come after their latest seasons finished on History.
Project Blue Book ran for two seasons and wrapped its second back on March 24, 2020. The show actually did fairly well for History, with an average audience of 1.3 million viewers in live+same day numbers in Season 2.
As for Knightfall, even Mark Hamill evidently wasn't enough to provide the boost it needed. Knightfall also ran for two seasons, with the second wrapping on May 13, 2020. The cancellation on May 7 means Knightfall fans had nearly a full year of waiting for news of the series' future. It didn't fare quite as well as Project Blue Book, with an average audience of 650,000 viewers.
Despite the cancellations of Project Blue Book and Knightfall on top of the upcoming end of Vikings, History isn't totally abandoning scripted projects. That said, the network may not be planning on any ongoing scripted TV shows in the foreseeable future. The newly-announced projects (which will only include scripted elements) likely won't run for terribly long.
History has ordered two scripted event miniseries: Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Lincoln will be a three-part miniseries with each part running for two hours to provide a biography of President Abraham Lincoln. Roosevelt will have an even shorter run as a miniseries, going for two episodes of two hours each.
Another scripted project is on the way sooner rather than later, called Grant and debuting Sunday, May 25 at 9 p.m. ET to cover the life of Ulysses S. Grant over six parts. Two episodes will air per night over three nights, so the only scripted History project currently on the schedule won't run for long.
History does have plenty of unscripted options, so the losses of Knightfall and Project Blue Book won't cripple the lineup, especially when projects like Secret of Skinwalker Ranch take the network in some intriguing directions.
Hopefully History will announce the premiere date for the second half of Vikings Season 6 sooner rather than later. For some viewing options in the meantime (other than Grant), be sure to check out our 2020 summer premiere schedule.
