The Peripheral is science fiction series that debuted on Prime Video in October of 2022. The series was renewed early in 2023 for a second season. According to Deadline, despite the renewal for another season, Prime Video has decided to cancel The Peripheral and not go forward with a season two.
Deadline notes that the series was likely to go into production this year. However, a large part of the decision to reverse The Peripheral‘s renewal comes from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
According to Deadline, delaying The Peripheral due to the strikes would likely cause production to become more expensive. Deadline explains that a second season would likely already be expensive to produce due to its science fiction genre and the marketing campaign.
The Peripheral is not the only series to have been canceled. Prime Video’s A League of Their Own, which was also previously renewed, met a similar fate.
The Peripheral series was created by Scott B. Smith (A Simple Plan, The Ruins), and some aspects are based on the novel of the same name by William Gibson (Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive).
The first season of the series is set about ten years into the future and focuses on a girl named Flynne Fisher, played by Chloë Grace Moretz (Carrie, The 5th Wave), who becomes immersed in Virtual Reality games. However, the virtual reality she is exposed to is a real look into the future, specifically the year 2099.
Other stars of the series include Jack Reynor (Midsommar, Sing Street) as Burton Fisher, Alexandra Billings (Disclosure, Transparent) as Inspector Ainsley Lowbeer, Eli Goree (Dead of Summer, The 100) as Conner Penske, T’Nia Miller (The Diplomat, The Haunting of Bly Manor) as Cherise Nuland, and more.
The SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes continue to influence decisions made by various production companies and streaming services, such as Prime Video.