'The Family' canceled news and updates: Show canceled after 12 episodes; what would have happened if season 2 pushed through?
ABC's freshman thriller drama "The Family" has been axed by the network after airing only 12 episodes, leaving viewers with cliffhangers which will never be resolved.
As noted by reports, the show was canceled along with other ABC series, making last Sunday's episode its season 1 finale. In episode 22, Claire was last seen recovering after finding out that the person behind her son's murder was Ben. She paid a visit to the bunker where Ben and Adam were kept, thinking of the boys' condition when they were treated like animals during their stay in the room. If Ben became crazy during his stay in that hole which led him to kill Adam, how will Claire and the Warrens find justice with her son's death? A lot of questions were left hanging in the said episode, and unfortunately for fans, wi know what happens next.
There are factors that might have influenced the network's decision to cancel the show, and the most obvious one would probably be the dip in ratings. However, CarterMatt pointed out some other reasons why the show came to an end. First is its scheduling, which is very crucial in every TV series. The show had a midseason premiere, unlike others which had the luxury of having a Fall premiere. People already established their viewing schedules, making it difficult to convince them in changing channels. Another factor is the massive changes currently happening in ABC, which is not even the show's mistake. After a new executive producer was assigned, popular shows seemed to have been canceled like "Nashville," "Castle" and "Agent Carter."
Showrunner Jenna Bans recently caught up with TV Line to discuss what could have happened in "The Family" if ABC allowed it to have a sophomore run. "We're going to have a riveting murder mystery going on, because as you see at the end of the season finale, Bridey has been murdered, and it heavily implicated Willa," she explained. "You'll see in Season 2 that that answer isn't so clear-cut. A lot of the flashbacks will revolve around Bridey, and I said to Floriana [Lima, who plays her], when we made the decision to go this way, that this is the one show where you might actually have a bigger part, having been killed off. [Laughs] We do take place in more than one time period."
The showrunner also mentioned that the Adam storyline still has a lot to offer, saying, "He's out there, and it won't be late into the season that he makes his reappearance into the family.... The season opener will begin with Claire seeing the real Adam. We're not going to wait. It basically happens in the teaser. [Laughs] We have this great, dramatic way of opening. It will be in the first two minutes of the show."
As of now, the execs have yet to confirm if the show will be picked up by another network.
