The Man Who Fell to Earth will not be back on Showtime.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Paramount Global-backed premium cable network has declined to renew the series for a second season. The news comes as showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet had originally conceived the drama as a closed-ended limited series but changed course as they were halfway through making the first season. Sources say execs were very pleased with the show’s creative and felt the season came to a natural and fitting conclusion.
“Our thanks to the extraordinary Alex Kurtzman, Jenny Lumet, John Hlavin and Sarah Timberman who did a great job of turning the David Bowie film into such a resonant tale for our times,” a Showtime spokesperson said in a statement to THR. “And kudos to a wondrous cast led by Chiwetel Ejiofor, Naomie Harris and Bill Nighy for bringing it to life. Alex and Jenny originally intended The Man Who Fell To Earth to be a close-ended story. While we flirted with the idea of expanding it into a second season, we all ultimately decided to embrace it as a one season story well told.”
Originally ordered to series for CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in 2019, The Man Who Fell to Earth was based on a 1963 novel by Walter Tevis (The Queen’s Gambit), which was adapted as a 1976 movie starring David Bowie. Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) starred in the drama and played a new alien who lands on our planet in a role that was crafted so as not to be compared to the one made famous by the late rocker. Harris, Nighy, Jimmi Simpson and Kate Mulgrew also starred in the series, which was moved to Paramount+ corporate sibling Showtime in March 2021 as the drama better suited the cabler’s roster of premium programming.
Kurtzman and Lumet (Star Trek: Discovery) served as co-showrunners along with Hlavin (Shooter). They executive produced with Sarah Timberman, Carl Beverly, Heather Kadin and Rola Bauer and Françoise Guyonnet of Studiocanal.
CBS Studios produced the drama along with Timberman/Beverly and Kurtzman’s Secret Hideout. Studiocanal owns rights to Tevis’ novel and a 1976 movie starring David Bowie based on the book.
The decision to not move forward with more Man Who Fell to Earth, sources say, also predates the recent executive change at Showtime parent Paramount Global in which David Nevins — who led a portfolio that included Showtime — departed and oversight of the cabler was given to Chris McCarthy. It’s worth noting that premium scripted fare has not been a focus for McCarthy, a rising star at the former Viacom. McCarthy oversees a suite of networks including MTV, VH1, Comedy Central and Paramount Network. (McCarthy’s lieutenant, Keith Cox, is the gatekeeper for all of Taylor Sheridan’s shows on linear and streaming.) During McCarthy’s tenure, he has largely taken Comedy Central and other networks out of the premium scripted space.
Showtime’s scripted roster includes the recently launched Let the Right One In and American Gigolo as well as Billions, The Chi, City on a Hill, The L Word, Yellowjackets and Your Honor, among others.
Kurtzman and Lumet, meanwhile, continue to have overall deals with CBS Studios and have multiple other shows in the works for both Paramount+ and Showtime, including the Star Trek franchise.
