It takes a lot of work to continue moving forward with a series after it gets cancelled. Contracts with the cast and crew have to be re-finagled and advertising needs to be put together that lets audiences know the show is back, as well as motivates them to return for a post-cancellation season. The Killing had all of these things going for it when it returned to AMC for a third season after initially getting cancelled, but despite this, ratings didn’t really grow once the new season hit the air. On Tuesday, AMC announced it would be cancelling the series for a second time.
Season 3 of The Killing premiered to largely good reviews, and many thought the show might follow the trajectory of the first season, ratings-wise, rather than the second season. Additionally, the show promised and delivered on solving the mystery within the frame of one season, rather than dragging episodes on and on. While the Season 3 premiere posted decent ratings, ScreenCrush is reporting the finale only earned 1.5 million total viewers during the finale, which is only .1 million more than the Season 2 finale. Since ratings were a big part of the reason the network dropped the program last time, this isn’t really a huge surprise.
The show was initially cancelled in 2012, but this past winter, AMC figured out a way to bring back several of the main cast members, including Joel Kinnamon and Mereille Enos, although Billy Campbell was no longer involved. In today’s big cancellation statement, the network called the decision a “difficult one,” which is I guess the best way to let the cast and crew—and especially show creator Veena Sud—down gently.
“We have made the difficult decision not to move forward with a fourth season of The Killing. We want to thank our great partners at Fox Television Studios, creator Veena Sud, an extraordinary cast and the dedicated fans who watched.While we would have loved to produce a fourth season for AMC, FTVS is immensely grateful to everyone involved with this moving series: our brilliant cast, led by Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman and season three’s Peter Sarsgaard, our stellar executive producer, Veena Sud, a remarkable writing and producing team, and a tireless, dedicated crew. Most of all, FTVS thanks the terrific fans of The Killing, who communicated their appreciation for the show throughout its run.”
If you haven’t yet caught the third season of the drama, you should be able to stream it soon via Netflix. The subscription service made an exclusive deal to pop up the episodes just three months after they aired on AMC. Part of the reason the service was able to work out a deal to premiere those episodes so soon was that Netflix paid to be the exclusive streaming retailer for the season. Since the finale hit the network early in August, those episodes should come sooner than later. That’s still not a lot of consolation for anyone who was a huge fan of the series, but at least many of those individuals will be able to revisit their favorite episodes when Season 3 hits the streaming service.
Even though the series is cancelled, if you have been hoping to catch the third season via Netflix, you can check out some information on the Season 3 case, below.
