Life on Mars: UK Creators Announce Lazarus Sequel Series Not Happening

(Photo by: BBC One)

Life on Mars will not have another sequel series after all. The creators of the UK series have announced that the planned spin-off, titled Lazarus, will not be happening, per Deadline.

The original Life on Mars series aired for two seasons on BBC One between 2006 and 2007. Starring John Simm, Philip Glenister, Liz White, Dean Andrews, and Marshall Lancaster, the sci-fi series follows a cop (Simm) from 2006 who finds himself thrown back in time to 1970s Manchester.

A spin-off series titled Ashes to Ashes, featuring Keeley Hawes as a police officer who is shot in 2008 and wakes up in 1981, ran for three seasons in the UK. ABC ran its own version of Life on Mars starring Jason O’Mara and Harvey Keitel. It was cancelled after one season but viewers still got an ending, one that differed from the UK series.

Life on Mars co-creator Matthew Graham announced plans for the Lazarus series in 2020. Set in Manchester and London during the 1970s and 1980s, the series was expected to run for four or five episodes. Simm and Glenister would have reprised their roles from the original series.

Viewers could still see what the creators of the Lazarus series, Graham and Ashley Pharoah, had planned for the sequel. Pharoah teased the fans could see the content pop up in another format at some point.

What do you think? Have you watched the original Life on Mars series? Did you want to see the Lazarus sequel series?