Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, has recently made headlines for its surprising cancelations of high-profile shows. Among the canceled shows are Julie Plec’s Vampire Academy and Dead Day. Vampire Academy, based on the popular young adult paranormal romance novels of the same name by Richelle Mead, is a unique and captivating series that blends the worlds of fantasy and horror. The show premiered on Peacock in September 2022 and ran for a total of 10 episodes.
Susan Rovner, the chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal TV and streaming, spoke about the cancelations in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s TV’s Top 5 podcast. Rovner stated that the cancelation of Vampire Academy was due to timing issues and the difficulty of attracting a young adult audience. Peacock realized that they needed to focus on getting parents first with shows like Poker Face and Traitors before they could support a show like Vampire Academy.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
RELATED: Vampire Academy Gets Canceled After One Season at Peacock
“I have a history with Julie and Kevin from my Warner days," Rovner said. “Both One of Us Is Lying and Vampire Academy, the takeaway was that it was too soon to put those shows up on the platform,” she continued. “What we realized is we have to get the parents before we get the teens. And I’m hoping that once we get the parents with shows like Poker Face and shows like Traitors, that we will be able to do a show like Vampire Academy a few years from now. The timing wasn’t right. We didn’t have the skill yet to support bringing in a young adult audience.”
Peacock’s Dead Day Cancelation and Future Plans
AfterShock Comics
Peacock made a significant investment in the show Dead Day by giving it a straight-to-series order. However, Rovner explained that Dead Day’s cancelation was a creative decision, as the show did not fit with Peacock’s programming strategy. Despite the cancelation, Rovner expressed her hope in finding another project that would work for the platform and emphasized her desire to continue working with Plec and Williamson in the future.
Peacock’s recent cancelations were based on both timing issues and creative considerations. Rovner and Peacock are looking to find a balance between attracting adult and young adult audiences, with a focus on building a strong foundation for future projects.
“It was more of a creative decision,” she said. “We ultimately didn’t think that completely fit the platform. I’m hoping we can figure out another project that will work for the platform; I want to work with them forever.”
