Sarah Michelle Gellar Reveals She Said No to a Season 2 of Ringer, Even Though The CW ‘Would’ve Picked It Up’
Sarah Michelle Gellar played twins in The CW‘s thriller Ringer, but she wasn’t interested in pairing up the show’s debut with a sophomore season.
The Buffy alum says it was her decision to end the series after a single season in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I got pregnant with my second child, which was a surprise, so I turned to CW like, ‘I can’t,'” she recalls. “They would’ve picked it up again. I just couldn’t do it.”
She adds that she originally pitched Ringer to CBS as a miniseries, but they weren’t interested in anything that ran less than the standard 22 episodes. (Remember, this was before the current wave of buzzy limited series.) “All the networks said, ‘There’s no money in limited. You need 22 episodes to make a profit,'” she remembers. Ringer eventually landed at The CW with a full 22-episode order, but it was axed in 2012 after just that one season.
Ringer starred Gellar as stripper Bridget, who fled her native Wyoming after witnessing a murder by a local crime boss. She went to New York to find her estranged twin sister Siobhan (also played by Gellar), but after Siobhan apparently committed suicide, Bridget assumed her sister’s identity along with her place among the city’s wealthy elite. The supporting cast included Kristoffer Polaha, Zoey Deutch, Nestor Carbonell, Ioan Gruffudd, Mike Colter and Tara Summers.
“After I had my daughter, the first show I chose to do was Ringer… thinking, ‘Oh, this will be easy. I’ll play twins,'” Gellar now says. “I don’t know where my head was. I blame postpartum.”
I did think it odd CW didn’t order season 2.
Really?
A shame. Ringer was a fun watch at the time. I actually appreciated The CW skewing to a more adult program. There was potential.
The ratings weren’t great for this show. I looked it up and its finale only drew 1.2 million viewers. The show was highly serialized, which made it hard to jump in if you hadn’t watched from the beginning. Big SMG fan here but I doubt it would have come back for a second season even with SMG on board.
1.2 million is good for the CW that’s been the average for other shows like Riverdale, Arrow, the flash, supernatural,
Girl… The CW had completely different standards 10 years ago. Shows like Riverdale would’ve been canceled before even getting on the air.
90210 and Gossip Girl had lower ratings than Ringer and they were renewed. Archie, where were you 10 years ago? The CW did NOT have standards. That’s the funniest thing I’ve read all day. Thanks for the chuckle.
Lol. Ringer was in its first season, the ratings were atrocious and they were only gonna get worse. 90210 and Gossip Girl had been on the air for at least 4 years at that point, Gossip Girl was a signature show for The CW and popular worldwide. Thanks for the laugh!
@Archie It has literally nothing to do with “higher standards 10 years ago”, doofus. You’re literally making up factual nonsense.
*All* CW shows have naturally lower ratings than the other NBC, ABC type networks because the CW is factually *IN FAR FEWER HOUSES AND MARKETS* than the Big 5.
*Actual* facts.
You’re welcome.
Lower than the other networks, yes, no one was questioning that. But 1.2 millions in its first season was LOW even compared to other CW Shows in their first season. And this is a *fact*. You’re welcome, honey.
Not back then. TR was before the Netflix deal.
Did you look at the ratings for the other shows on The CW during that year? Ringer wasn’t that low for the network. Ringer definitely would have come back. Now we know why it didn’t. Sarah should have at least did a 13 episode closure season. We wanted Bridget to have her happy ending.
Actress who was actually on the show and knew the network executives: “They would have renewed the show.”
Internet commenter: “I, who was not on the show and didn’t know the network executives, knows better than YOU. You are a LIAR, actress! So sayeth I, the all-knowing Internet commenter!!!”
She made the right call, that show was so terrible.
It was fun. Do you hate fun?
Mystery, solved! This was a great show and I was upset for sure. But I get it. I’m glad she back on TV soon in Wolf Pack.
I definitely respect her decision. I would loved a movie or mini series to finish it off. I do have to say it was soapy goodness and omg her outfits were incredible
Agreed. It was right decision for her, but it would have been nice to have a wrap-up.
Even before Buffy I remember her on All
my Children. I miss that show.
I would’ve watched another season but I definitely understand her decision!
It was kind of a bad show but I enjoyed her performance and the ludicrous plot twists.
Would’ve been nice had it not ended on a cliffhanger and I actually liked it and her other show she did with robin williams as that’s why the ringer was initally pitched to cbs as she had a sit-com that year as well and she was thinking I can have 2 shows on cbs and frankly she had better chemistry with robin then Ian and again I feel sorry for the guy as he’s been a one and done series guy as remember he was the star of the abc show forever
I liked her with Ian.
“Ringer” was a guilty pleasure. CW could have held Sarah Michelle Gellar to her multi-year contract (series leads don’t get single-year contracts) if they had wanted to, even if that meant a delay due to her pregnancy.
They didn’t
Sure, I believe that…
It wasn’t that good.
As twisted, ridiculous and convoluted as “Ringer” was, it actually all came together and made sense in the end within the world it had created. There were zero plot holes. #Respect
She’s lying. The rating went down the drain as the season went on. A network would replace you before ending a hit show after a single season.
I remember her interviews with Ioan Gruffudd where they both told about their hopes for the continuation. And Sara shared the ideas for the second season. So, either she lied then or she lies now.
The article says her pregnancy was a surprise. So its entirely possible she did those interviews before she discovered she was pregnant and she changed her mind about continuing.
If you are saying she did interviews *after* it was cancelled, she still may have been referring to her what her ideas and hopes were *before* she’d discovered she was pregnant. It may be she didn’t wish to get a public backlash against her at the time for bailing out of the show due to the pregnancy so she didn’t mention that her views continuing had changed.
‘revenge’ should be limited
In a weird way I kind of liked that they showed Revenge the beginning middle and end, but they also gave you a short chapter after of when she got what she wanted how her life was.
I think oftentimes when you’re watching TV shows you wonder what the characters ended up doing.
And if they would have just ended it at season 3 I think there would have been a lot of questions up in the air.
there was a plan to spin off nolan’s revenge agency idea in the series finale into a series but it gone quiet.
I loved everything about Ringer except for Ioan Gruffold and his dreary character. Would have much preferred Bridget with Nestor Carbonell or Kris Polaha alter egos. Also remember rooting for Billy Miller’s hit man to be successful. I enjoyed the delicious soapiness of it all!
Well dang, I loved Ringer. I was always upset it didn’t get renewed. I never would’ve guessed it was her decision.
I loved Ringer, but I understand why she didn’t want to do it. It must have been exhausting for her.
Me, I’ve always wanted to have a second season or more (child), now that your children are born and grown up, wouldn’t you like to continue, Mrs. Prinze?
I loved this show. See? Kids ruin everything.
I loved this show when it came outoved storyline and loved Sarah Michelle great tv show it was loved it
I wish now in 2023 they would revisit the second part of ” ringer ” because it’s sad that everyone was left hanging that enjoyed the series. Maybe Sarah Geller and CW could revisit the series and conclude it with a closing episode to end it on a more proper note on. That would be awesome because I thought all of this cast were excellent.
What a shame! Ringer is much better than the show she’s in now. It would’ve been nice to get some closure.
Very sad that Ringer didn’t have a season 2 show that we would have some kind of conclusion and not left us hanging. You would think that they could’ve done it for their audience? I was watching it and I was so upset that I had no knowledge of what ever happened to Bridget or Chauvin. I think your audience was owed some kind of closure very upsetting.