The 4400‘s superpowered days are over: The CW has cancelled the reboot after just one season, TVLine has learned.
The network also axed Legacies, Dynasty, Charmed, Naomi, In the Dark and Roswell, New Mexico on Thursday. They join the previously cancelled dramas Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow.
The CW’s atypical “bloodbath” of cancellations this season (at least six shows got the axe on May 12 alone) is likely due to the network’s rumored upcoming sale (perhaps to the Nexstar affiliate group) and thus its uncertain future.
With its freshman run, 4400 averaged 732,000 total viewers and a 0.1 demo rating (with Live+7 DVR playback factored in); in total audience it ranks No. 14 out of the 19 dramas that The CW has aired this TV season. That said, it enjoys the third-largest DVR bump (+97 percent) of any CW series.
An update on the USA Network sci-fi drama, the CW series followed 4,400 overlooked, undervalued, or otherwise marginalized people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years and are all returned in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. It starred Joseph David-Jones (Arrow), Brittany Adebumola (Grand Army), Jaye Ladymore (Chicago P.D.), AMARR (American Housewife), Cory Jeacoma (Power Book II: Ghost), Derrick A. King (Call Your Mother), Khaliah Johnson, TL Thompson, Ireon Roach and Autumn Best.
In the Feb. 14 finale, which now serves as the series ender, a wounded Manny and Logan (plus Hayden, who crouched over him) were plucked away by a green light. While Logan and Hayden were not to be seen again, Jharrel and Claudette got a surprise visit from Manny, who walked into his apartment and proclaimed that he’d only been gone for half an hour and Jharrel had already brought over a girl.
Prior to that memory-bending cliffhanger, it was revealed that Manny had spent two years in the future, working with Sienna Stone to change the world. But he was in favor of a more scorched earth approach and jumped into the green light, inserting himself into the 4400 sample. Unfortunately, Manny broke the “tower” for the time travel machine, so Sienna approached Andre in the present to help build a new machine, while swearing him to secrecy. (For more on those twists, check out our post mortem interview with EPs Ariana Jackson and Sunil Nayar.)
TVLine’s Broadcast Renewal Scorecard has been updated with the cancellation. Hit the comments with your reactions!
Obvious from the trailers and very first episode. Just bring back the original!
Well this sucks. It got real good towards the end.
I will miss the time lapse of period drama meets sci-fi for each of the characters representing various decades in their former life. I for one though am happy it had some writing and production from original series to make connection, and it’ll remain a one season wonder for this viewer.
So has Roswell, New Mexico (deadline gets the news unusually quicker)
What is the cws plan? They are cancelling a lot of shows? Will they be airing stuff from other countries. They should like into buying the rights to other countries versions of game show like survivor. Not sure if thats possible though
No one really knows who is going own the CW, so they are cleaning house now. The next owner of the “network” is just buying the affiliate stations network, not an actual ‘network’. it will just be another glorified MyNet “network” situation. Thanks for all the memories CW! glad to know ya.
you mean like a Superstation? like what TBS will soon be used to be?
I never watched the original series, and the pilot episode for this reboot didn’t do enough to keep me watching
The original was SO much better in every way! You get instantly hooked on it. This new reboot was horrible. Try to stay awake few episodes. They pushing the black agenda too which is ridiculous.
What’s the black agenda?
In the original series, the cast of people who were taken and returned weren’t all black people. They were diverse from all over the world, but the series did just focus on the white characters and one black returnee, which were typical casting of that era of television. In this updated version, it seems like the only people who were taken were black. Instead of taking the opportunity to update this show with more diversity, the casting is what you would typically find on the BET Network so the storylines revolved around black storylines of racism, etc. The show could have been great if they had taken the opportunity to actually make a diverse cast of black, white, latino, asian, etc. and bring all those stories to life, but it ultimately flopped because the writing was too narrow.
So true. I love the original. I tried to follow the CE series, but couldn’t hang on to it…Sad
I agree that the original series was much better. It also eased into the storyline. We saw the returns of individuals and how the impacted the world upon their return. Then it became a bit more sinister. The reboot jumped right into the sinister pieces. The generational differences were much more apparent in the reboot in conjunction with the black experience. I appreciated this change, but overall felt that there was no ‘joy’ in the returns, which made it harder to enjoy watching.
The point was that minorities get the least focus when they are reported missing because Missing White Woman Syndrome is still an big thing in this country. I mean sure the Petito case after she was found urged the USA to look for more women who went missing under similar circumstances but yet were never found because the police closed their cases because they didn’t fit the crictrra of women the public and police always focuses on
Watch the original. The follow up seasons went downhill but that first season (which was originally supposed to be a miniseries until it got a full pickup) was phenomenal. It was also the first big role for Mahershala Ali, who even back then made it clear he was destined for greater things with his presence onscreen.
So true about Mahershal Ali! He was a standout in The 4400, and I kept an eye out for him after that.
I seen this coming when Nexstar bought the Cw they canceled all the shows that had LGBTQIA leads despite rating being better than some straight white lead show. Nexstar is a conservative group who are extremely bias and have been called out in the past about it.
It’s shame because the show was really good ,very relatable.the original was very much freak of the week where as this had a story
The sale hasn’t gone through yet, the only thing Nexstar has done is voice interest in purchasing the network but made it clear 1) it was primarily interested in acquiring the affiliates more than the network itself and 2) it had no interest in continuing any shows that were underperforming, which is pretty much everything that was cancelled here. LGBTQIA leads and storylines had nothing to do with it other than their lack of broad audience appeal is one of the reasons the ratings were never much to speak of. Heck even networks that cater specifically to those demos like Bravo will can a show if it doesn’t perform to expectations, that’s just the reality of the business.
I really hate that so many of the cw shows were canceled, but what I hate even more is the endings of tv shows on any network that can’t give you a solid ending at the end of that season.
I am about done with watching the CW. They cancel long good standing shows and air crap. The DC universe was the best shows, Supergirl was the best. I just got into the 4400 and they cancel it. I loved the original. CW I’m tired of the stupid vampire crap.