Canceled 'Timeless' Fails to Find New Home

The clock is officially at zero for Timeless. Sony Pictures Television has failed to find a new [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

The clock is officially at zero for Timeless. Sony Pictures Television has failed to find a new home for the science fiction series, after NBC canceled the show late last month.

"[Sony Pictures TV] has notified [co-showrunner Eric Kripke] and me that efforts to land #Timeless at another network have sadly failed," co-showrunner Shawn Ryan wrote on Twitter Monday. "While Sony will continue to look at any and all options, actor deals have expired and it appears there will be no Season 3 or beyond."

Ryan will said there will be takes between Sony and NBC about a potential two-hour movie to wrap up the story for fans disappointed with season two's cliffhanger ending. However, Ryan admitted there was a very little chance of that.

"Discussions still take place between @SPTV and @NBC about a possible 2 hour movie to conclude the #Timeless story, but there are considerable economic obstacles that make it an uncertainty. We will update you when we know more," Ryan wrote.

Ryan later sent another tweet, thanking fans who already successfully saved the show from cancellation after the first season.

Fans hoping for a wrap-up movie will be disappointed because the idea is simply too expensive to bring to life. Ryan noted that all the cast contracts have already expired, giving stars like Abigail Spencer and Matt Lanter a chance to find new jobs. As TVLine pointed out, wrap-up movies are so rare because they would require a studio to build expensive sets that would only be used once instead of 13 or 22 times during a full season.

Timeless starred Lanter, Spencer and Malcolm Barrett as a trio of time travelers trying to stop a criminal who stole another time travel vehicle from destroying America as we know it. In the season two finale, Barrett's Rufus character was killed. Just before the episode ended, future versions of Spencer and Lanter's characters showed up to ask their present selves if they wanted to save their friend.

The rest of the cast included Goran Visnjic, Paterson Joseph, Sakina Jaffrey and Claudia Doumit. Ryan and Kripke created the series.

Although Timeless has a die-hard group of fans, the series only averaged 4.2 million viewers and a 1.0 18-49 rating during its second season. Fans hoped the show would stay alive, especially since NBC took weeks to cancel it. Plus, other cancelled shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Last Man Standing were saved by other networks. However, it was not to be for Timeless.

Photo Credit: NBCUniversal

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