USA Network Cancels ‘The Purge’ & ‘Treadstone’ Series
USA Network has decided to cancel both ‘The Purge‘ after two seasons, and ‘Treadstone‘ which only managed one season. Both shows aired on Amazon Prime in the UK.
Based on the hit movie franchise from Blumhouse Productions, ‘The Purge’ revolved around a 12-hour period when all crime, including murder, is legal. Set in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party, it followed several seemingly unrelated characters living in a small city. As the clock wound down, the characters were forced to reckon with their past as they discovered how far they would go to survive the night.
Set amidst the CIA black ops program, and based on the world of ‘Jason Bourne’ created by author Robert Ludlum, ‘Treadstone’ explored the origin story and present-day actions of the infamous covert program that uses behaviour modification protocol to turn recruits into nearly superhuman assassins. The first season follows sleeper agents across the globe as they’re mysteriously “awakened” to resume their deadly missions.
The cancellations seem to come from a mix of lower than needed viewing figures and a change in direction for USA Network. Whilst ‘The Purge’ season one did very well, the second season had lost 50% of its viewers. Both shows were expensive to produce, and even with the international streaming deals with Amazon, they just couldn’t manage to make the numbers add up. This other issue is USA Network are moving away from continuing scripted drama, ordering more unscripted shows, and focusing on one-off limited scripted “event series”, such as the upcoming ‘Evel’ biopic starring Milo Ventimiglia.
If you do want to catch up with ‘The Purge‘ and ‘Treadstone‘, both shows can be found on Amazon Prime UK.
