Wilkin Brattle (Lee Jones) can now beat his sword into a plowshare, since there will not be a second season of The Bastard Executioner TV show. FX has cancelled the Tuesday night drama after one season of ten episodes.
According to Deadline, creator Kurt Sutter, who also plays the Dark Mute character, knew the 14th century period drama would not return for season two, when he filmed the season one and series finale.
Deadline reports Sutter took out ads (below) in the trades, to thank the cast, crew, and the network. Said cast includes: Jones, Sutter, Stephen Moyer, Matthieu Charneau, Katey Sagal, Flora Spencer-Longhurst, Sam Spruell, Darren Evans, Danny Sapani, Timothy V. Murphy, Sarah White, Sarah Sweeny, Ethan Griffiths, and Ross O’Hennessy.
According to Deadline, Sutter did not break the bad news to the cast at the time, as the decision was not then final, and he did not want cancellation news to affect production. Last week, star Katy Sagal admitted she was not sure if there would be a second season.
As of episode nine, which aired Tuesday, November 10, 2015, The Bastard Executioner was not faring well in the ratings. Its to-date season average ratings in the 18-49 demographic was a mere 0.45, with a total average audience size of 1.26 million viewers. Dateline mentions that the ratings were not high enough, considering the cost of shooting on location, in Wales.
This show has been added to the growing list of shows that won’t be back next season.
What do you think? Do you like FX’s The Bastard Executioner TV show? Do you think it should have been cancelled? Would you have watched a second season?
Truly disappointed to hear this news. While the show was not perfect, it was the best thing I’ve seen on FX since the end of Justified. I hope Netflix figures out the dark horse winner and picks this story up!
I’m in the 18-49 demographics and I’m oissed it got cancel the story was just getting good I hope they reconsider or Netflix picks them up
I am heartbroken. I love this show. I picked it up during the hiatus of Vikings and I was surprised at how much I loved it. Milus was really growing on me. I’m so sick of quality programs being replaced with reality show crap and sci-fi. I’m in the so called target age range, but apparently I have too much education and taste to appreciate the drivel.
I am so disappointed the Bastar d Executioner has been cancelled, you must reconsider. There is so little on TV, this was a great show., has great cast, entertaining storyline. Finally something different and interesting. I will be waiting for season 2.
I loved the show and I’m highly disappointed by this news. Can we petition to bring it back?
I enjoyed the show was the only reason I watched fx since “justified” ran it’s coarse . Totally would’ve watched a second season .
People watching the show didn’t want to except this period of time. They were selfish in thinking this would be an extension of Sons of Anarchy. Well. It was a completely different show. Some did not give it a chance. It as just getting good in the story line. To you who would not accept the new show, it was because of your not accepting this show that had its low rating.
You hit the nail on head. I never watched Sons of Anarchy, but my hairdresser loved it and so did my son. So, I had no expectations except I really like period dramas as well as all other well written dramas. Maybe Netflix will pick it up like the did Longmire and The Killing – two of my favorites. Except, I do not have NetFlix. Things they are a changing. .
Smiley Face.
Well I enjoyed this show and looked forward to it each week. They did a great job with the finale. Lee Jones was amazing!
I really enjoyed the show!! I’m 62 years old and it seems there are tons of police, investigation, medical, family shows. All are good but they’re similar in nature. This was different and I really enjoyed the series. For me, it was up there with Reign, Game of Thrones that have a different flavor. I hope you all reconsider the cancellation for folks like me.
I wanted to like this show, but I couldn’t. not that interesting to me. And Kurt PLEASE stop casting your wife in every show. time to get to work on SOA again
I have to Disagree with you Katy is an amazing actress and can play any role, she is great as the healer. It just shows how much Kurt loves his wife!!!!
This borders on heartbreaking. I, too, am one of those ‘over 49’-ers, who is ignored when it comes to deciding whether to keep a show on or not. Ironically, my buying-power of sponsored products is greater than 90% of their targeted audience but is always being dismissed as inconsequential — I may be over the hill, but my money is still green. I sincerely hope that Sutter has the option of pitching to one of the premium providers to pick up where FX left off and I’m not left with a mundane selection of crime-of-the-week dreck augmented with high-school drivel.
Heartbreaking is the word and I hope your hope becomes reality.
I missed some episodes including the finale so I hope this series goes on DVD sometime soon so I can see what I missed.
How do they count the On Demand cable viewers in the ratings? Do they even use Nielsen boxes anymore since everything is electronic? These numbers come up too fast to seem to account for the different ways that people view programs these days. I am just pissed and have some real doubts about the numbers that supposedly drive the system. Cable TV is filled with such dreck. Something with a little more substance comes along. It’s expensive to do. Of course the audience is not worth it. It will probably be replaced by another murder documentary made for $23.40 to… Read more »
1st time I’ve ever commented on a show being cancelled.I’m over 49 also-the nothig demographic. I looked forward to the show each week and really enjoyed the story and the production quality. The 18 to 49 demo is so dumbed down God knows the story was too hard for them to follow….
Well, I am disappointed that this show was cancelled. There was a lot more story left to tell, but since I don’t fall in the 18-49 age range (I am 70), my opinion doesn’t matter. Too bad because I liked this show.