With writers and actors both on strike, studios and streaming services have been canceling less episodic projects than usual, which makes sense when the optics of guaranteeing creatives will be out of work when they’re already on the picket lines aren’t great. Completely ignoring the memo, though, Prime Video has axed blockbuster sci-fi series The Peripheral and the reboot of the classic A League of Their Own.
What makes it even more egregious is that both shows had officially been renewed for second seasons, with the latter on the fence for a while before being awarded a stay of execution through a shortened final run of four episodes. It marks the first time renewals have been rescinded and revoked since the respective strikes began, and it could yet prove to be a worrying indicator of things to come.
The Peripheral was hardly an inexpensive production given that the budget for the first eight episodes was reported to be an eye-watering $175 million, but the reality-bending mystery executive produced by Westworld duo Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy has now been cast out into the ether of on-demand purgatory.
Although the strikes have been named by Amazon as the reason due to release targets and shooting schedules being drastically affected, A League of Their Own co-creator Abbi Jacobson isn’t buying it, blasting the decision as “bullsh*t and cowardly” on social media.
The domino effect may have begun, so it’s well worth crossing your fingers for any first-season originals with their status still up in the air, whether they’ve been renewed or not.