Season 2 of the Courtney B. Vance and Aunjanue Ellis-led 61st Street, which was already filmed, has been scrapped from AMC’s upcoming lineup.
According to sources, the network has decided not to move forward with the series, despite the sophomore season having already been shot. Variety reports that AMC’s decision to not air Season 2 of 61st Street comes as part of the network cutting costs, which they announced in December 2022.
'61 Street' stars Tosin Cole, Ellis and Vance, who also served as an executive producer.
The courtroom drama “follows Moses Johnson, a promising, black high school athlete, who is swept up into the infamously corrupt Chicago criminal justice system. Taken by the police as a supposed gang member, he finds himself in the eye of the storm as police and prosecutors seek revenge for the death of an officer during a drug bust gone wrong.”
61 Street was created by showrunner Peter Moffat. Actor Michael B. Jordan serves as an executive producer via his Outlier Society production banner along with Alana Mayo of Outlier Society and Hilary Salmon of BBC Studios.
The series cancellation is a result of AMC making significant cutbacks in recent months.
Last month, AMC announced that it would take write-downs for up to $475 million. This “included $400 million for ‘strategic programming assessments’ and $75 million for ‘organizational restructuring costs,’ per an SEC filing.”
James L. Dolan, who was just recently named interim executive chairman by the board of directors, said in a company memo, “We are primarily a content company and the mechanisms for the monetization of content are in disarray,” adding that there would be “a large-scale layoff as well as cuts to every operating area of AMC Networks.”
In addition to '61st Street', AMC has also pulled 'Invitation to a Bonfire,' a series adaption based on the book of the same name by Adrienne Celt.
Invitation to a Bonfire was described as a “psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey. Inspired by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov’s codependent marriage, the story revolves around Zoya, a young Russian immigrant and groundskeeper, who is drawn into a lethal love triangle with the school’s newest faculty member — an enigmatic novelist — and his bewitching wife.”
Rachel Caris Love created the series and it was set to star Tatiana Maslany, Ngozi Anyanwu, and Pilou Asbæk. Robin Schwartz and Kyle Lauren were set to executive produce, with Carolyn Daucher producing.
