British Disney+ Original “Shardlake” Cancelled After One Season
Last year, Disney released a brand new original British drama series called “Shardlake”, which is based on the internationally popular novels by C.J. Sansom.
Drenched in mystery, suspense and deception, this four-part drama, based on the first novel in Sansom’s series, is an eerie whodunnit adventure set in 16th-century England during the dissolution of the monasteries. Shardlake’s sheltered life as a lawyer is turned upside down when Cromwell instructs him to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea. The commissioner was gathering evidence to close the monastery and it is now imperative for Cromwell’s own political survival that Shardlake both solves the murder and closes the monastery. He leaves Shardlake in no doubt that failure is not an option. Cromwell insists that he is accompanied by Jack Barak to Scarnsea, where the duo are met with hostility, suspicion and paranoia by the monks who fear for their future and will seemingly stop at nothing to preserve their order.
Unfortunately, over six months after the initial release on Hulu and Hulu On Disney+ in the United States and on Disney+ around the world, Variety has revealed that the show has been cancelled and won’t be returning for a second season.
A spokesperson confirmed the cancellation.
Shardlake’ will also not be returning for a second season on the service. We’d like to thank Stephen Butchard who adapted the late C.J. Sansom’s beloved novel for the screen, the entire cast – led by the outstanding Arthur Hughes – and crew, and our production partners The Forge and Runaway Fridge. We hope to work with all of our partners across these shows again in the future.”
The series stars Arthur Hughes (“Then Barbara Met Alan”), Sean Bean (“Time”) and Anthony Boyle (“Masters of the Air”). It also stars Babou Ceesay as Abbot Fabian, Paul Kaye as Brother Jerome, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Alice Fewterer, Peter Firth as Norfolk, Matthew Steer as Goodhap, Brian Vernel as Brother Mortimus, Irfan Shamji as Brother Guy, David Pearse as Brother Edwig, Miles Barrow as Brother Gabriel, Mike Noble as Bugge and Kimberley Nixon as Joan.
“Shardlake” is written by Stephen Butchard (“The Good Mothers”). The series is executive produced by George Ormond and Mark Pybus for The Forge (a Banijay UK company) and Stevie Lee for Runaway Fridge. The series was commissioned by Lee Mason for Disney+, with Jonny Richards serving as executive producer for Disney+. Justin Chadwick (“The Other Boleyn Girl”) has directed the series with John Griffin as producer.
Roger’s Take: It’s a shame that “Shardlake” didn’t find a big enough audience to warrant a second season, but I’m not sure Disney promoted this show enough and personally, I only managed to get through the first episode and totally forgot I was watching it and never returned. So, I could easily see many other people doing something similar. Hopefully, Disney will not remove the show from Hulu and Disney+, as it does with many of its cancelled shows, or it can license it to some other platforms like Tubi, ITVX, or Channel 4 to get some additional revenue instead.
What do you think of “Shardlake” being cancelled after one season? Let me know on social media!