Fox last week pulled high-profile new drama Monarch from the midseason lineup two weeks before it was to launch behind the network’s coverage of the NFC Championship game.
The country music family dynasty series, starring Susan Sarandon, Trace Adkins, Anna Friel and Beth Ditto, will now debut in fall 2022. In a statement announcing the move, the network said it was “due to the unavoidable realities of the pandemic and the profound impact Covid-19 continues to have on our industry and around the world.”
There have been other factors too, including a showrunner change in November, with Jon Feldman replacing Michael Rauch. Monarch, Fox Entertainment’s first fully owned drama series, was shooting at the time and already had been assigned the plum Jan. 30 post-NFL game slot. Production was briefly paused as the series adjusted creative direction, which included reshoots.
“We’ve completed about five episodes, but when we made the showrunner change, there were some creative changes that were coming along with it that we’re implementing into the episodes that are really exciting,” Fox Entertainment President Michael Thorn told Deadline during an interview tied to Fox’s TCA presentation last week. “We want to ensure that we’re able to do it and give our partners the time to implement them, so it’s all born out of setting the show up for success, and we’re really excited about it”
While production on Monarch has not been shut down over positive Covid tests, the prospect of that happening amid the current Omicron surge that has affected dozens of shows factored into Fox’s decision, Thorn said, especially with Monarch‘s delivery schedule already tight because of the showrunner transition.
“If we had a Covid interruption, it could create ultimately a delay in our air schedule, potentially in the middle. And that’s not the best way to do television today,” Thorn said, noting that the network brass are happy with the show. “We stepped back, we’ve seen the first couple episodes that are very strong, and we wanted to give the show the longest runway possible for the launch to ensure, when we do premiere the series, that it has all the benefit of the campaign. It deserves as uninterrupted an air schedule as we can give it and really support it.”
Created by Melissa London Hilfers, Monarch is a multigenerational musical drama about America’s first family of country music, the Romans. The series incorporates extensively original music; the first song from Monarch was released by Arista Records in December. The music nature of the show created additional challanges, Thorn said.
“Music-driven programming, as exciting as it is, it’s not just completing the actual episodic production, there are so many complementary moving pieces that go alongside a series that has music in it, and we didn’t want to be put in a position, if Covid shut us down, where we didn’t meet our schedule,” Thorn said. “And or we had to start making creative compromises. Quite frankly, the show deserves better.”
Despite being pushed to fall, Monarch will remain in production through the spring to finish the season.
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