Peacock Just Axed Its Best Dramedy That Ended on a Huge Cliffhanger, and Fans Are Raging
Based on a True Story joins the growing list of brilliant shows that were cancelled too soon. Let's see if there's a chance to save the show.
We've seen a lot of series that ended on cliffhangers get canceled, but this latest blow was particularly painful. Peacock canceled Based on a True Story after two seasons.
The finale of Season 2 featured not one, but two shocking plot twists, and it seems we will never know how they will be resolved.
Why Was Based on a True Story Canceled & Is There Any Chance of Season 3?
While Peacock hasn't given an official reason for the cancellation, the most likely cause is that although Based on a True Story had pretty good scores – 79% from critics and 76% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes – the viewership ratings were too low to cover the network's expense in producing the series.
It seems that there is no chance of saving the show, too. Peacock has not changed its decision and the actors are already busy with other projects. Fans are hoping that another network will buy the rights, but there is no such news yet.
Based on a True Story Fans Are Disappointed They'll Never See a Season 3
Fans are upset that Season 2 clearly set up Season 3 and piqued viewers' interest with a cliffhanger, but we never get to see the rest of Ava, Nathan, and Matt's story. As Reddit user LittleMarySunshine25 wrote:
“So we just never get any ending or wrap up, ugh. I guess we'll have to speculate forever.”
Cancellation after one or two seasons remains the main curse of modern television – viewers get hooked on a new story, become emotionally attached to the characters, only to find out that they will never know how the story ends.
This can be detrimental to the streaming services themselves – viewers will simply choose older but finished projects, causing the ratings of new series to slowly but surely decline.
How Did Based on a True Story Season 2 End?
Warning: spoilers for the Based on a True Story Season 2 finale.
Season 2 focused on Matt seemingly trying to get back to his normal life, but a copycat of the West Side Ripper showed up in town. In the finale, viewers learned that the copycat was Paige, the sister of one of Matt's victims, Chloe Lake.
Paige's motivation perfectly reflects the essence of the show – the woman killed everyone who profited from the true crime industry, those who glorified killers instead of condemning them. That's why she targeted Ava and Nathan.
But that wasn't the only twist in the Based on a True Story finale. The most shocking revelation was that Matt wasn't on the road to become a better man – in fact, he was trying to frame Nathan and make the police believe he was the West Side Reaper all along.
