In a surprising, bizarre (and frankly, irritating) move, Sky has cancelled Joe Barton’s critically acclaimed, BAFTA-winning British sci-fi drama ‘The Lazarus Project‘ after two seasons, less than a week after lead actor Paapa Essiedu got a BAFTA nomination for his role in the show…
The brilliant time-bending BAFTA-winning drama from Joe Barton (Giri / Haji), is a timely and affecting exploration of the desire to take charge of your own fate. Season one introduced us to George (Paapa Essiedu) who woke up one day and found himself reliving a day from months ago. All of his recent milestones had been undone, including his success at work and his marriage to the love of his life Sarah (Charly Clive). Worst of all, he seemed to be the only one who’d noticed what had happened… That was until he met Archie (Anjli Mohindra), who recruited George for the Lazarus Project – a secret organisation that has harnessed the ability to turn back time every time the world is at threat of extinction.
When the news dropped, Joe took to social media with a Dr. Seuss quote saying “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
It’s a very odd decision by Sky… There are two things which usually get a show cancelled – quality and/or money. Last year ‘The Lazarus Project’ picked up a Best TV Drama at the BAFTA Cymru, critically has a 100% fresh rating on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and, as mentioned above, Paapa Essiedu got a Leading Actor BAFTA nomination last week for his role, so it certainly isn’t an issue of quality. It is produced by Urban Myth Films, in association with Sky Studios, so Sky has a vested interest in the series, unlike some situations you get with US shows when a drama is “bought-in” from an outside studio, making it less financially viable. We can only speculate that it is possibly an expensive show to produce and didn’t get the ratings it required for Sky to keep it on air… It is still an odd and gutting decision for fans given season two ended on a cliffhanger.
“The Lazarus Project has brought audiences jaw-dropping action and time-bending storylines across two seasons, and we are incredibly proud of this BAFTA-winning series,” said a Sky spokesperson in a standard placating quote… “Whilst we won’t be commissioning another season, we would like to thank the incredible team who made this show possible.”
The other frustrating thing is that UK-made sci-fi dramas are rare, and getting one of this quality is even rarer. Given rumours persist that Sky may lose the HBO content when the deal with Warner Bros. Discovery ends in 2025, you would think Sky would want to keep hold of as many of own award-winning, critically acclaimed, homegrown dramas as possible, but apparently, that isn’t the case…
We don’t yet know if Urban Myth Films can save ‘The Lazarus Project‘ and move it somewhere else, but if we do hear anything more, we will let you know.
