Fox has canceled the Marvel drama “The Gifted” after two seasons and Lil Rel Howery comedy “Rel” after one season, Variety has learned.
“Gifted” was set in the Marvel “X-Men” universe and followed a suburban couple whose ordinary lives are rocked by the sudden discovery that their teenage children possess mutant powers. Forced to go on the run from a hostile government, the family seeks help from an underground network of mutants and must fight to survive.
After the show’s first season averaged a 1.0 rating in the key 18-49 demographic and 3.31 million total viewers, the average rating for season two almost halved down to 0.59, while the average viewership dipped to 1.95 million.
“Gifted” starred Stephen Moyer, Amy Acker, Natalie Alyn Lind, Percy Hynes White, Sean Teale, Jamie Chung, Emma Dumont, Blair Redford and Coby Bell.
The series was produced by 20th Century Fox Television–now part of Disney–in association with Marvel Television. Matt Nix, Bryan Singer, Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, and Marvel’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory served as executive producers. Nix, who served as the series’ showrunner, wrote the pilot, which was directed by Singer, whose career is now embroiled in controversy over sexual misconduct allegations.
Related
“Rel” was a multi-cam comedy that hailed from comedian Howery, who wrote, executive produced and starred in the show.
After returning a solid 18-49 rating of 1.9 and a total viewership of 5.5 million for its premiere, “Rel” saw a severe ratings dip for the remainder of the series, ending up with an average rating of 0.77 and a touch over 2 million total viewers.
Inspired by Howery’s real life, the comedian played a prideful, self-made success who lives by the code to “always believe in yourself and great things will come,” but finds that attitude gets put to the test when he learns his wife his having an affair with his barber. The character tries to rebuild his life post-divorce as a long-distance single father on the South Side of Chicago who’s on a quest for love, respect, and a new barber.
In January, series co-creator and executive producer Kevin Barnett died suddenly during a trip to Mexico at age 32. Barnett’s cause of death was later revealed to be due to complications from pancreatitis. Howery paid tribute to Barnett with an Instagram post that read in part, “Thank you for the last 6 years of helping make my dreams come true man.”
The series also starred Sinbad, Jess “Hilarious” Moore, and Jordan L. Jones. Jerrod Carmichael exec-produced the series, while Mike Scully served as showrunner. Scully are set up under overall deals at 20th Century Fox Television, which produced the show. Scully is now showrunner with Julie Thacker-Scully on the upcoming Fox animated series “Duncanville.”
Previously, Fox renewed medical drama “The Resident,” first responder drama “9-1-1” and animated comedies “Bob’s Burgers,” “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” for its 2019-20 primetime schedule.
(Pictured: “The Gifted,” “Rel”)