NBC has officially canceled action drama series Taken after two seasons. The decision was mostly expected by fans, due to the fact that NBC recently pulled the show from its Friday night at 9pm timeslot.

Taken is based off of the movie trilogy of the same name starring Liam Neeson as Bryan Mills. In the TV adaptation, Mills is played by Vikings star Clive Standen. The show focuses on a younger version of Mills as he begins his career as a special intelligence agent in the employ of Cristina Hart (Jennifer Beals). Mills spent the first season running missions for Hart, while trying to cope with his sister's murder at the hands of a drug lord. The first season ran for ten episodes and was renewed for a 16-episode second season.

Deadline now reports that Taken has been canceled by NBC. According to TheWrap, the series is currently being shopped around by Universal Television and EuropaCorp TV USA, though there's no word yet on what networks may be interested. The show has averaged about 3 million viewers each week, while last season's average was closer to 5 million. While the numbers had fans worried about the show's renewal chances, it became even more clear that Taken had been axed when NBC pulled the show from its Friday schedule and moved it to Saturdays for the remainder of the season.

Taken Banner

The news will be disappointing to fans, particularly those who were enjoying the new creative direction the show began to take in the beginning of season 2. Since season 1 barely performed well enough in the ratings to justify a renewal, Taken went through a dramatic overhaul. Not only did the series get a new showrunner in the form of Person of Interest's Greg Plageman, but the show received a major cast shakeup as well. Six series regulars and all recurring characters were dropped, leaving only Standen and Beals as part of the show's main cast.

The show then received new supporting characters and a new premise. Season 2 of Taken has seen Mills and Hart working with a much smaller team that consists of Santana (The Flash's Jessica Camacho) and Killroy (Adam Goldberg). The major changes were intended to give the show a stronger procedural element and to also narrow the focus on Mills. Unfortunately for fans, the show's new direction wasn't enough to save the series.

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The final episodes of season 2 of Taken will begin airing Saturday, May 26 at 8pm ET on NBC.

Source: TheWrap, Deadline