‘City on Fire’ Cancelled After One Season!!

The crime drama series City on Fire has been cancelled by Apple TV+. According to a recent report by Deadline, the streamer will not be picking up the show starring Wyatt Oleff and Chase Sui Wonders for a second season.

Whilst Apple TV+ has not yet provided a reason for the cancellation of the crime drama, it is believed that the show did not perform as well as it was hoped. The finale of the eight-part first season aired just a month and a half ago, yet was not received as well as other series picked up by the streamer, including the hit science-fiction drama Silo (starring Rebecca Ferguson, Rashida Jones, Tim Robbins, and Harriet Walter) and thriller Hijack (starring Idris Elba, Neil Maskell, Eve Myles, and Christine Adams). For many viewers, the first season was nothing short of disappointing and “uninteresting” in comparison to the novel of the same name by Garth Risk Hallberg from which the series was adapted. Indeed, Collider’s own Erick Massoto revealed the inability of the series to make the key theme—a murder investigation—interesting for viewers, let alone adequately “flesh out the central themes” of gentrification, addiction, and post-9/11 America. “Those themes are handled either generically or with hardly any nuance,” Massoto wrote. Whilst the possibility of a second series was alluded to in the series finale, it is unlikely the show will be shopped elsewhere, as the main plot points of the novel were covered in the first season.

What Was City on Fire About?

Created by The O.C.’s Josh Schwartz and Nancy Drew’s Stephanie Savage, City on Fire premiered with three episodes on May 12. The fiction series, based on Hallberg’s 2015 novel, focuses on the aftermath of the murder of a New York University student, Samantha Yeung (Wonders) during the Fourth of July celebrations in 2003. Those investigating the murder soon discover that her death is linked to a rebellious group setting abandoned New York buildings alight, an uptown wealthy family harbouring sinister secrets, and the downtown music scene. Apart from Wonders and Oleff, who plays Charlie, a boy who has been in love with the unattainable Samantha for years, the cast also includes Jemima Kirke (Conversations with Friends), Nico Tortorella (Scream 4), Kathleen Munroe (A Perfect Plan), Omid Abtahi (The Mandalorian), Xavier Clyde (Hard), Beth Malone (Chicago Med), and Max Milner (The Dirt) amongst others.

The cancellation of City on Fire comes after several other streamers announced they would not be continuing with their own series and films. Less than a week ago, it was announced that Hulu’s musical romantic-comedy Up Here would not be renewed for a second season. Like City on Fire, the New York-set series starring Mae Whitman (Family Guy) and Carlos Valdes (The Flash) reportedly did not receive the desired views. Similarly, despite millions spent on development over the past several years, Netflix’s Master of the Universe movie set to star Kyle Allen (West Side Story) was cancelled in mid-July.