Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist canceled after 2 seasons
It's curtains for Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.
EW has confirmed that the NBC musical drama starring Jane Levy has been canceled after two seasons. There were conversations between NBCUniversal and Lionsgate TV about potentially moving the series to Peacock but unfortunately a deal couldn't be reached. But there may still be hope as Lionsgate TV is currently shopping the series at other streaming services.
"In a world where finding loyal and passionate audiences is never easy, we believe there must be a home for this great, award-winning show with a passionate and dedicated following," Lionsgate said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
And series creator Austin Winsberg echoed that sentiment of hope in a series of tweets on Wednesday after the cancelation news broke. "Okay. Here we are. The news is out. NBC/Peacock have decided not to go forward with another season. We can discuss that later," he says. "But right now I refuse to believe the show is dead. There is too much love and goodwill and the fan base is incredible. Now here is what I need."
Winsberg says he believes the show "can have a real chance somewhere else. But the more fan support we can throw behind it - the better." The creator asks not only fans but also the cast and crew to tweet the hashtag #saveZoeysPlaylist to "make some noise."
If Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist is unable to find a new streaming home, it will be devastating for viewers as the season 2 finale ended on a game-changing cliffhanger after fan-favorite couple Zoey (Levy) and Max (Skylar Astin) finally got back together, only for Max to realize he somehow now has Zoey's powers of hearing other people's inner thoughts and desires through songs.
Michael Courtney/NBC/Lionsgate
"We've been setting the stage for this for a long time," creator Austin Winsberg previously told EW. "We've talked about Max getting the powers in the writers room pretty early on in season 1 as something that we would want to do in the future. When you look at superhero shows and superhero origin stories, it seems like there's always a period or a moment in time where the hero discovers that somebody else also has the powers, and when we're talking about the evolution of the show and how does this show continue, giving the powers to somebody else felt like a natural evolution... I think you can infer from that that he is being given this power for a reason, to create a version of equity or equality in their relationship."
As for what that meant for a potential third season, Winsberg said, "It just opens up the possibilities for what can happen next, especially in terms of the relationship between Zoey and Max and the complications of that. By giving Max his own insight into Zoey's world, maybe the way that he views musical numbers and maybe his takeaway from those musical numbers could be different than hers, or maybe by him getting the powers he can then help Zoey with her emotional procedural stories in different ways. There could be a fun role reversal for her too because she's always been the one who's had to figure it out so it's kind of nice to have her be the one who maybe has a deeper insight now."
Hopefully, fans will get the chance to see that play out - if a streaming service grants the series an encore.
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