Reboot Officially Dead, Canceled Hulu Series Fails to Find New Home

Reboot, the latest series from Modern Family creator Steve Levitan, is officially dead after attempts to find a new home have come up short, according to a new report. In the days since the streamer announced they would not pick up another season of the acclaimed series, stars Johnny Knoxville and Rachel Bloom have joined fans in being shocked and dismayed by the end of the show, and Levitan had promised to shop the series around to other potential homes in the hopes of saving it. But now, Levitan is saying that they have exhausted their options, and the show is officially done.

Audiences and critics were surprised when Levitan, whose Modern Family was a consistent hit for years, wasn't enough of an enticement to get the show at least a second season. Of course, it isn't hard to connect it to broader trends going on right now, as Disney lays off thousands and rushes to cut costs in their streaming division -- a division that includes Hulu.

"Well, that seems to be a wrap on Reboot," Levitan said on social media. "Very proud of our amazing cast and crew and what we did together. Thanks to all who watched and said such nice things. Haven't seen it? Check us out on Hulu if you can find it."

"The writing was on the wall for a little bit of time because we weren't hearing anything," Bloom told THR recently. "I'm confused, people seemed to be watching it in my world. They don't release numbers so I'm not sure how metrics work."

She continued, "I'm hoping we can sell it to a new place, I think it's a fantastic show. I said from the beginning if I saw this show I would want to be on it, and I'd be jealous of anyone who was on it. So, I still can't believe that I got to be on it, that I get to be on it. The cast is so fucking fantastic. I don't know, I don't understand the market."

The market is admittedly difficult to understand. For years, most streaming services have been operating at a loss, with their owners understanding that they were a good long-term investment since streaming is seen as the future of TV and film. With the post-pandemic economic downturn, streaming services are doing everything they can to become more profitable in the short term, from cancelling expensive shows to abandoning content that they think is too expensive to store on their servers. 

In 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery shocked everyone by cancelling some high profile projects including Batgirl and Scoob: Holiday Haunt, despite the fact that they were already nearly complete. Writing down tens of millions of dollars in losses, WB took a lot of heat from audiences and creatives alike...but they seem to have opened a floodgate, with other studios and streamers making similar moves in the months since.

In Reboot, Hulu reboots an early 2000's sitcom, forcing its dysfunctional cast back together. Now they must deal with their unresolved issues in today's fast-changing world.

The series stars Keegan-Michael Key, Johnny Knoxville, Paul Reiser, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy, and Krista Marie Yu.