Being a fan of sci-fi television can be exhausting. There are few things as rewarding as when a television show gets it right: where the characters are engaging, the environment is fun and dangerous, and there are creatures and gadgets galore. However, when such a show garners a loyal fanbase, constant rumors and worries of cancellation can take you from high to low. Such as the case with Syfy’s Defiance, which has now been cancelled.
Syfy has cancelled the sci-fi series Defiance, according to Deadline, after the show amassed a loyal and ardent fan base. Sadly, the costs associated with producing a quality sci-fi show, from set locations to special F/X, can price a show out of affordability if there aren’t enough eyes on it. AMC’s The Walking Dead can afford a robust budget for such considerations due to the fact that it is one of the most-watched cable TV shows ever. Not just today, but of all time.
Defiance, which enjoyed a rabid, hardcore fan base, albeit, not a very large one, ended Season 3 in a manner that would lead many to believe that the show’s producers may have known it was the end. Shows that findthemselves routinely on the cusp often take precautions to wrap up storylines and close doors that had been opened in the event that a show is not picked up, so as not to disappoint that show’s fanbase. We saw this with Dan Harmon’s Community and the several “final wrap” season finales that the director produced just in case the show was not welcomed back.
As also often happens with these types of shows, expect some sort of online petition to manifest within the next couple of days with Defiance fans calling upon the Syfy network to renew the show, or for a Season 4 pick-up from an alternate outlet such as Netflix of Yahoo!, the place that gave Community a sixth season. Of course, Community was the little engine that could and did on a major broadcast network in prime time, and not a smaller niche cable channel.
Defiance followed Joshua Nolan and his adopted Irathient daughter Irisa as they settle in a dystopian city-state called Defiance, which has been built over what used to be St. Louis. The year is 2046, and Earth has been transformed and now contains several extraterrestrial races, or Votans, exist with humans in a newly formed society.
The series was produced by Paul M. Leonard, Michael Nankin, and Anupam Nigan for NBC Universal Television by Five & Dime Productions. It was executive produced by Scott Stewart, Rockne S. O’Bannon, Kevin Murphy, and Michael Taylor.
