Damien’s journey as the Antichrist has come to an end, for now at least.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Damien has been canceled by A&E after one season. The Glen Mazzara (The Walking Dead, The Shield) series ran for 10 episodes on the cable channel. Damien was a victim of low-ratings, a similar issue that plagued fellow A&E one-and-done cancellations Those Who Kill and The Returned.
After the news of the cancellation, Mazzara reached out on twitter to thank the fans and his fellow cast and crew. “The #Damien fandom has been the absolute best. So sorry we won’t be able to continue our story for you. I really loved making #Damien. We all did. We just never got the numbers there. Gave it our best shot.” The finale of the series aired on May 9th and left plot threads hanging, especially in regards to Damien and Simone, for a second season that will no longer come.
Damien is a sequel series to Richard Donner’s influential 1976 horror classic The Omen, about an American ambassador (Gregory Peck) who starts to suspect that his young son Damien (Harvey Stephens) may be the Antichrist. The film spawned an entire franchise that expanded into four films and a remake in 2006, multiple novels and documentaries on the series. In fact, just a month ago it was announced that 20th Century Fox is developing a prequel movie titled The First Omen, with a script written by Ben Jacoby and Antonio Campos (Simon Killer, Christine) eyed to direct. Damien takes place decades after the original movie, as an adult Damien has to come to terms with his past, his future and his role as the Antichrist.
Mazzara produced his sequel series alongside Ross Fineman (Trial, Lights Out), Pancho Mansfield (Lights Out, The Glades) and Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, The Four Feathers). Kapur also directed the pilot. The A&E series starred Bradley James, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Omid Abtahi, Barbara Hershey, David Meunier and Melanie Scrofano.
Damien was originally set up at Lifetime for six episodes, before eventually moving to A&E with ten episodes. Damien was not the first attempt at making a television adaptation of The Omen work. In 1995, a pilot for The Omen TV series was made, but it never got picked up. The pilot can be watched in full on YouTube.