Outsiders: Cancelled by WGN America; No Season Three

Times are hard for the Farrells of Shay Mountain. WGN America has cancelled its Outsiders TV show after just two seasons. That there will be no Outsiders season three comes as a bit of a surprise, because the (albeit low-rated) Appalachian family drama was the cable channel’s top performer in the Nielsen ratings. The April 25th season two finale will now serve as an unintentional Outsiders TV series finale.

Outsiders stars Joe Anderson, David Morse, Ryan Hurst, Gillian Alexy, Kyle Gallner, Thomas M. Wright, and Christina Jackson. The WGN America drama follows the Farrell clan. This tight-knit isolationist family has lived atop Shay Mountain for over two hundred years. They are constantly at odds with those who live outside of their community.  

Outsiders TV Series on WGN America: A Look at the Ratings

The second season of The Outsiders is averaging a 0.22 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 795,000 viewers. Compared to season one, that’s down by 24% in the demo and down by 3% in terms of average total audience size. Find out how The Outsiders stacks up against the other WGN America TV shows.

Sony Pictures Television to Shop Outsiders TV Show to Other Networks

Deadline reports Sony Pictures Television will try to shop around a third season of Outsiders, but it’s kind of late in the year to do so. The news outlet also mentioned the possibility that parent-company Tribune Media is looking to sell off WGN America as a reason for cancelling its highest rated show. Here’s more.

Speculation about a potential Tribune sale, which has been going on for years, intensified recently with a report about a potential merger with Sinclair. There have been rumors about potentially stripping the company to get it ready for a sale though in a statement about Outsiders‘ cancellation, Kern stresses that the company’s intends to “expand” WGNA’s original content and to “be reallocating our resources to a more diverse programming strategy and to new structures.” Here is his full statement:

After three years of investing in marquee, brand-defining dramas, WGN America has successfully expanded its audience, its reach, and its presence in the minds of viewers. In our next phase, we intend to expand our original and unique content to continue growing our relevance and appeal to the widest possible audience. To achieve this, we will be reallocating our resources to a more diverse programming strategy and to new structures, enabling us to expand both the quantity and breadth of content aired by WGN America.

This move is designed to deliver even more value to our advertising and distribution partners. To free up the resources to reach this goal, we will unfortunately not be renewing Outsiders. We are grateful to our production partners at Sony Pictures Television and the terrifically talented people who made the show possible.

What do you think? Are you still watching the Outsiders TV show? Do you think another network will pick up the third season, or do you expect it to remain cancelled? Sound off in the comments.