The Knick, despite it’s critical acclaim and dedicated following, will not be returning to Cinemax for third season. This isn’t that big of a surprise after the lead character Dr. Thackery, portrayed by Clive Owen, was killed off in the season two finale last year (Owen only had a two-year commitment in his contract). With two 10-episode seasons in the can, it seems this period medical drama has told the story it wanted to tell.
The Knick told the story of a group of innovative doctors and nurses at the fictional Knickerbocker Hospital in NYC, who struggle to make their contemporaries let go of outdated medical practices. Owen’s character Dr. John W Thackery was based on real-life doctor William Stewart Halsted (1852 – 1922), a NYC physician who also suffered from cocaine and morphine addiction. Holland’s character Dr. Algernon Edwards was based on Louis T. Wright (1891 – 1952), an acclaimed African-American surgeon at the turn of the century.
The series was created by writing team Jack Ariel and Michael Begler. The project was a departure from their previous work, after previously writing feature films The Prince and Me and Raising Helen. Stephen Soderbergh is currently serving as executive producer and director for Amazon’s Red Oaks and Starz’s The Girlfriend Experience. Anonymous Content served as producer on The Knick.
Cast members featured in all 20 episodes included Andre Holland, Jeremy Bobb, Juliet Rylance, Eve Hewson, Michael Angarano, Cara Seymour, and Eric Johnson.
HBO miniseries and Cinemax Programming President Kary Antholis said in a statement:
After a critically acclaimed two-season run of The Knick on Cinemax, we will not be going forward with additional episodes of the series. Despite our pride in and affection for the series as well as our respect for and gratitude toward Steven Soderbergh and his team, we have decided to return Cinemax to its original primetime series fare of high-octane action dramas, many of which will be internationally co-produced.
Owen was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2015 for his performance in the tv series, and director Stephen Soderbergh was nominated for two Emmys for his directing in 2015 and 2016. The series also received multiple Emmy nominations for make-up, hair, and production design, winning Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Period Program (One Hour or More) in 2015.
If you still want more of Clive Owen, look for him this year in sci-fi/thriller Anon with Amanda Seyfried, as well as sci-fi/action film Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets starring Cara Delevingne, John Goodman, Ethan Hawke, and Rihanna. His co-star Andre Holland, after appearing in Moonlight last year, can be seen next year in Ava DuVernay’s A Wrinkle in Time with Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine, Mindy Kaling, and Michael Pena, as well as Steve McQueen’s Widows with Viola Davis and Liam Neeson.