Fox has canceled its original drama, Prodigal Son, after only two seasons. The series starred Walking Dead alum Tom Payne as Malcolm Bright, who is a disgraced former FBI profiler for the NYPD. But the fact that he is the son of Martin Whitly, the infamous serial killer known as The Surgeon (Michael Sheen), haunts his life. And when he has to reconnect with his estranged father to pick his mind for solving gory and unusual cases, his inner demons threaten to overpower him. The star-studded cast of the Prodigal Son, recently made Oscar-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones a series regular in hopes of boosting its ratings.
But despite the addition, Prodigal Son’s ratings continued to decline in its Season 2 as well. As reported by TVLine, this constant decrease in viewership numbers pushed Fox to make the “incredibly difficult” decision of terminating the show. This makes the show’s current season its last and the upcoming season finale the overall conclusion to the series.
Prodigal Son is not the first series that got the ax by Fox. Last year, it canceled the popular gothic drama, Filthy Rich, just after its first season. It was partly because of the rising production costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and principally because it made no sense in continuing to invest in a show that only managed to garner low ratings. Another original thriller series, NEXT, met the same due to similar reasons. Compared to their ratings, Prodigal Son is only faring a little better. It'll be interesting to see if it gets a revival on another platform a la Lucifer. Prodigal Son does have a dedicated fan base that would like to see a continuation.
Source: TVLine