‘The Peripheral’ Canceled at Prime Video Despite Season 2 Renewal

Prime Video has canceled “The Peripheral,” despite the Chloë Grace Moretz-led sci-fi series receiving a renewal for a second season in February.

An individual with knowledge of the matter tells TheWrap that the cancelation stems from delays caused by the ongoing Writers’ Guild of America strike, which began on May 2, and SAG-AFTRA strike, which began on July 14. The individual noted that the series was originally intended to go into production this year for a release in 2024.

Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by William Gibson, the series hailed from “Westworld” creators Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s Kilter Films banner, who are under an overall deal at Amazon Studios. “The Peripheral” follows Flynne Fisher (Moretz), a woman trying to hold together the pieces of her broken family in a forgotten corner of tomorrow’s America. She is smart, ambitious and doomed. She has no future; until the future comes calling for her.

Other members of the Season 1 cast included Jack Reynor, Gary Carr, Eli Goree, Louis Herthum, JJ Feild, T’Nia Miller, Charlotte Riley, Alexandra Billings, Adelind Horan, Alex Hernandez, Katie Leung, Julian Moore-Cook, Melinda Page Hamilton, Chris Coy and Austin Rising.

“The Peripheral” is produced by Amazon Studios and Warner Bros. Television, in association with Kilter Films. Executive producers are creator and showrunner Scott B. Smith (“A Simple Plan”), director Vincenzo Natali, Athena Wickham and Steven Hoban, as well as Joy and Nolan.

Additionally, “A League of Their Own” has also been canceled after being greenlit for an abbreviated four-episode second season.

The series’ first season, which is co-created by Graham and star Abbi Jacobson, delved into the diverse history of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League made famous in Penny Marshall’s original film starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks and Madonna.

Carson Shaw (Jacobson) takes a risk and leaves home to try out for the AAGPBL while her husband is away at war. On the way to tryouts, she meets Jo De Luca (Melanie Field) and Gretta Gil (D’Arcy Carden), who become her teammates on the Rockford Peaches. Focusing on that team, the show portrays a diverse experience of queer baseball players while alternating between their story and the narrative of Max Chapman (Chanté Adams), a Black woman who attends tryouts but is turned away due to her race.

Other key characters include Max’s best friend Clance Morgan (Gbemisola Ikumelo), Lupe García (Roberta Colindrez), Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack), Esti González (Priscilla Delgado), Maybelle Fox (Molly Ephraim), Shirley Cohen (Kate Berlant) and Coach Dove Porter (Nick Offerman).

In July, Amazon Studios Television head Vernon Sanders had suggested that the company would be open to continuing the series.

“I’m one of those people that believes that if magic happens and we get a great response, this doesn’t necessarily have to be the end,” Sanders told TheWrap at the time. “It will totally depend on how it performs and how the cast and creators all decide they want to revisit it if they do. So let’s hope we get that big audience.”

He emphasized that the studio “loved” the show and that the conversation about bringing it back was a “tough one.”

“Doing a big ensemble period piece, at the scale and level of Season One was both really gratifying but challenging. And we had a conversation with the producers about how can we bring that back but do it in a way that perhaps was a little more cost-constrained,” he added. “And the producers came back to us and said, ‘What if we did it as a limited series?’ And we jumped at the chance and they’ve arced out something that we think is really dynamic. So I think the proof will be in the pudding.”

Representatives for Prime Video did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.

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