The new show Monarch coming to Fox about a family of country music stars has reportedly been delayed due to the rise of COVID-19 cases. According to Deadline, the show’s January release date has been moved to sometime in the fall of the network’s 2022/23 season.

“With an incredible pedigree of talent and musical performances, the powerfully compelling drama, Monarch, is a top priority for Fox Entertainment in 2022,” said a Fox spokesman to Deadline.

As seen in the quote, Fox considers this series a very important property, it being the network’s first fully-owned drama since its sale to Disney. The network hopes that with this break in premiering, they can go back into production and enhance certain aspects of the show.

The show is still filming in Atlanta, Georgia, and will continue to film through the spring. All the while, Fox executives are trying to find what will fill the hour-long hole in their schedule for Tuesday nights.

Monarch is only one of many other shows to be delayed in premiering or filming due to the rising spread of the Omicron variant. Other notable shows that have been subjected to halting production are NCIS, Chicago Fire, The Late Late Show With James Corden, and Late Night With Seth Meyers. 

However, for Monarch, this is just another setback in the show’s production as Deadline reported in November that the show had a leadership change in the middle of filming. According to Deadline, Jon Harmon Feldman (Lovelife, Big Shots) replaced Michael Rauch (Instinct, Royal Pains) as showrunner, and during this transition, the show took a brief pause in production.

Monarch focuses on the Roman family. In the show’s synopsis, they are dubbed as “country music’s first family.” They are led by their matriarch and legendary country music star, Dottie Cantrell Roman, played by Susan Sarandon (Thelma and Louise, Stepmom). The show would follow the Roman family as they struggle to stay relevant and keep their tight grip on the music industry while the younger generations fight for country music stardom.