Demascus, a sci-fi comedy series, is the latest victim of AMC‘s aggressive cost-cutting measures. The series, which was already in production, was to have been executive produced by playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm and Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul executive producer Mark Johnson. Deadline reported the cancellation, which comes on the heels of AMC axing a number of other series that, like Demascus, had entered production.
Demascus was to have centered around the titular Demascus, a 33-year-old Black man exploring his life and his identity via digital psychiatry, in a comedic, genre-defying, and reality-bending series of adventures. Okieriete Onaodowan was set to star, with Janet Hubert, Caleb Eberhardt and Shakira Ja’nai Paye as the supporting cast; Martin Lawrence had been cast in a recurring role. When it was ordered to series in April, AMC Networks president of entertainment and head of AMC Studios Dan McDermott described it as “a real and engaging exploration of being a Black man in America, with a rich and full character as our guide.”
AMC has run into financial difficulty as of late, as the media sector feels a fiscal crunch; late last year, after the departure of CEO Christina Spade, new interim CEO James L. Dolan announced the company was instituting large-scale layoffs and taking a $400 million financial writedown. This amounts to wiping content off its slate entirely in order to achieve a tax write-off, similar to what Warner Bros. Discovery did last year when they axed the upcoming Batgirl movie, among others. Other victims of AMC‘s recent cancellation spree include second seasons of the Dominic Monaghan dystopian sci-fi series Moonhaven and the Courtney B. Vance legal drama 61st Street, as well as the miniseries Invitation to a Bonfire, which would have starred Tatiana Maslany as a Russian immigrant drawn into a deadly love triangle at a boarding school. The future for other productions at the channel may be uncertain, as well.
Demascus was to have been executive produced by Chisholm, Johnson, and Kirk Moore, and produced by Myki Bajaj of Gran Via. Solvan “Slick” Naim was set to direct the series’ first two episodes.
Invitation to a Bonfire‘s producers are hopeful another network will acquire the series; a similar pickup is likewise possible for Demascus, depending on how far into production the series came before the axe fell. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
via Collider