ABC has canceled the crime dramedy Stumptown after one season, as reported by Entertainment Weekly. According to the proposed fall schedule posted on the ABC official website back in June, the Cobie Smulders-led program was scheduled to close the Wednesday night primetime lineup. However, due to what Entertainment Weekly alleges are “timing and scheduling issues,” a second season of Stumptown seems unlikely to air on ABC.
Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother, The Avengers) was interviewed by Green Matters in early September, where she expressed excitement about the new direction of the Season 2 scripts she’d received: “I can’t really reveal too much… I think it’s gonna feel totally different and much cooler… The whole show has an opportunity to elevate itself because we have this crazy amount of preparation time before we hopefully get in front of the camera and get to be in a room together again.”
Deadline reports that the COVID-19 pandemic allegedly delayed Season 2 production to such degree that a fall launch date would have been impossible. The projected Season 2 premiere would have been ready as early as April 2021, Deadline reports. The show also faced some creative turnover over the summer when co-showrunner Matt Olmstead (Chicago Justice, Chicago P.D.) left the show, via The Hollywood Reporter. His replacement Monica Owusu-Breen (Midnight, Texas) was to oversee the development of Stumptown‘s second season alongside creator Jason Richman (Detroit 1-8-7, Bangkok Dangerous), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Stumptown was based on a graphic novel series written by Greg Rucka (The Old Guard, Queen & Country) and originally illustrated by Matthew Southworth (The Cloven, Spider-Girl). The latter has taken to Twitter to encourage the show’s online fanbase to petition for the show’s rescue.
Rucka, Owusu-Breen and Smulders numbered among the participants in a remote Stumptown Q&A panel that was part of the 2020 Comic-Con@Home schedule. It can be viewed in its entirety on YouTube.
Season 1 of ABC’s Stumptown is currently available to stream on Hulu.
Image credit: Raymond Flotat