Rutherford Falls Cancelled at Peacock After Two Seasons
Peacock is officially moving out of Rutherford Falls. On Friday, a report from Variety revealed that the single-camera comedy series has been cancelled after two seasons. The show first debuted in 2021, premiering its eight-episode second (and now final) season in June of 2022. Rutherford Falls follows lifelong best friends, Nathan Rutherford (Ed Helms) and Reagan Wells (Jana Schmieding), who find themselves at a crossroads – quite literally – when their sleepy town gets an unexpected wakeup call concerning the potential removal of a problematic statue. Helms co-created the series with Sierra Teller Ornelas and Michael Schur, with Schmieding working as a writer on the series.
The cast of Rutherford Falls also included Michael Greyeyes, Jesse Leigh and Dustin Milligan. The show made headlines across its first two seasons for its strong performances and approaches to political themes, as well as its efforts to spotlight Indigenous writers and performers.
"I'm really proud of season two," Ornelas explained in an interview with Uproxx earlier this year. "I think it's a very strong season of television. I've only made a few season two's of television. It's been great to just see the actors really come into their own and really know what they're really good at and explore ways to create that. I think there's a lightness to this season. We talked about a lot of heavy stuff and we talk about heavy stuff in season two, but I feel we put in the work of setting this groundwork in season one and that this is the fruits of our labor, getting to watch these actors and these characters interact with each other. They're all carving out their own legacies this season."
"With COVID and everything, things have been so rough, I think the ability to just sit and laugh and be in on the joke is such a gift in a lot of ways," Ornelas continued. "At least I hope it is. And so that's what we were chasing this year. 'What do we never get? What are the things you never get to see us do?' We really leaned into romance this year. So there's a huge rom-com storyline between Jana's character and Dallas Goldtooth. And then Nathan, Ed Helms' character, tries to ingratiate himself into it. He finds himself in a little bit of romance and I'm just so proud of both Jana and Ed. I think they're the actors of my rom-com dreams. I'm so excited. We do a Halloween episode. We are a bunch of nerds in this writer's room who all grew up loving television. I think we have a little bit of emotional currency this year in terms of exploring the stuff that we find funny and the stories that excite us. And then there are also stories about land issues and things that the Native writers were experiencing during the break that we wanted to talk about. And so, we do both and there's a real warmth to this season, and I love watching these episodes and I can't wait for people to check it out."
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