EXCLUSIVE: Peacock is not moving forward with a second season of comedy series Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin. This marks a reversal of the Season 2 renewal for the offshoot from the Pitch Perfect movie franchise, which was announced in early January.
Like was the case of two Prime Video series whose Season 2 renewals were rescinded last month, The Peripheral and A League Of Their Own, the cancellation of Bumper In Berlin stems from the length of the work stoppage due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which have delayed production, creating large gaps between seasons and making shows miss their target release dates.
Bumper In Berlin‘s first season was released in Nov. 2022. The comedy had not started pre-production on Season 2 when the WGA strike began May 2. It has now fallen significantly behind its planned timeline. Such a delay would impact Peacock’s pipeline as there is already a schedule — and budget — in place for content rollout.
Like was the case with The Peripheral, which was a solid ratings performer for Prime Video, Bumper In Berlin got off to a strong start for Peacock, scoring the biggest comedy premiere in the streamer’s history.
As Deadline reported last month, there was a real possibility that a number of series’ renewals could be rescinded if the work stoppage stretched past Labor Day, with freshman series going into Season 2 the most vulnerable. First-year shows have harder time retaining viewers if they have to wait a long time for new episodes.
There was a similar string of unrenewals during the pandemic, with the majority of series with rescinded renewals during Covid headed to Season 2, including Netflix’s The Society and I’m Not OK With This as well as Showtime’s On Becoming a God in Central Florida and ABC’s Stumptown.
Even if the WGA strike comes to an end very soon, as is seems, we still may see more reversed renewals as networks and streamers reevaluate their lineups post-strike amid an ongoing increased financial scrutiny among most media companies, which have been recalibrating their streaming strategies.
While Bumper In Berlin is not going forward, Pitch Perfect remains an important IP for Universal, and the company remains in business with the franchise’s Elizabeth Banks via more projects in development with her Brownstone banner and with series’ showrunner Megan Amram who continues to have an overall deal with Bumper In Berlin studio Universal Television.
Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin follows Adam Devine’s Bumper Allen several years after the events of Pitch Perfect as he moves to Germany to revive his music career when one of his songs becomes big in Berlin.
Season 1 also stars Flula Borg, Sarah Hyland, Lera Abova and Jameela Jamil. Amran executive producers alongside Devine as well as Banks and Max Handelman of Brownstone Productions, and Paul Brooks and Scott Neimeyer of Gold Circle Films.
Coming up for Peacock on the comedy side are series Ted, Wolf Like Me S2, In The Know, We Are Lady Parts S2 as well as the Monk and Community movies.
