USA Network has decided not to move forward with two of its series, The Purge and Treadstone, as part of a channel-wide shift in programming. Both Treadstone and The Purge are television shows based off of popular film franchises, the former from the Jason Bourne series, and the latter from the horror films of the same name. Treadstone expands on the story from the Bourne films revolving around the clandestine program used to create programmable soldiers. The series includes parall stories, one in present time, following the surprise reawakening of sleeper agents, while the other takes place in the '70s, showing the origin of the program that created the highly-skilled, killer agents like Jason Bourne.
As for The Purge series, the horror franchise is about a world in which the government allows, once a year, a 12-hour period when all crime is allowed. The first movie, which came out in 2013, was a huge success, and was quickly followed by The Purge: Anarchy the next year, The Purge: Election Year, and most recently, The First Purge. A fifth film called The Forever Purge is planned, and might be the last in The Purge franchise. The television series is set in between the first and second films. It stars Gabriel Chavarria, Derek Luke, and Hannah Emily Anderson, but features an extensive cast. A few familiar faces from the films also show up, including Ethan Hawke.
As reported by Deadline, The Purge was cancelled after two seasons, while Treadstone only completed its first season. Recently, USA also cancelled one of its other scripted dramas, Dare Me, after its first season, despite the critical praise it received. This is all part of a shift in focus for the programming of the channel. The USA Network wants to focus less on scripted series, and more on live and unscripted programming, like its hits WWE Raw and Chrisley Knows Best.
The horror TV series had a great first season, but the ratings didn't transition into the second. For Treadstone, though the show had a devoted, yet small group of fans, even with the series releasing internationally on Amazon Prime, it wasn't enough for the channel to justify the expensive costs of production. USA plans to stay in the realm of "event" series for scripted programming, like their anthology series Dirty John, which is premiering its second season, starring Christian Slater and Amanda Peet, on June 2nd.
Their next scripted project will then be Evel, starring Milo Ventimiglia, known for This Is Us, as Evel Knievel. The miniseries will chronicle his life as he prepares for the death-defying Snake River Canyon jump in 1974. It's supposed to start production this year, but could possibly be pushed back, as it's unclear when film and television production will start up again in the wake of COVID-19. Thankfully for The Purge and Treadstone, their respective franchises are far from dead, with the next sequel Purge film coming soon, and another Bourne movie in development.
Source: Deadline
