Prime Video has canceled Butterfly and Countdown, two motion sequence that made their debuts this 12 months. The streamer has change into the house for dad motion, with exhibits like Reacher, Jack Ryan, and extra dominating their lineup. The guy-with-a-gun thrillers have confirmed to be large hits for Amazon, and it is a style they’ve leaned into much more this 12 months.
These exhibits will not be persevering with, although, because it was revealed that the Jensen Ackles-led Countdown and the Daniel Dae Kim spy thriller Butterfly wouldn’t be returning for second seasons. Deadline broke the information about Prime’s resolution.
Countdown adopted Ackles’ David Meachum, an LAPD detective tasked with investigating the homicide of a Homeland Safety officer that unravels a wider conspiracy. The present divided critics, receiving a 35% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences have been extra sort, giving the sequence a 63% approval ranking.
Butterfly was a extra family-oriented affair, centered round Kim’s David Jung, a spy who faked his demise and went into hiding earlier than reemerging years later when his daughter begins working for the group he based. Butterfly acquired a hotter reception from critics and audiences, however that was not sufficient to save lots of the sequence.
Nor have been the rankings. Each Countdown and Butterfly appeared on the Nielsen rankings chart. Nonetheless, Prime Video is getting into a brand new period and, over the previous month, they’ve given their verdict on the destiny of a number of high-profile sequence, together with We Had been Liars (renewed for season 2) and Motorheads (additionally canceled after one season).
These choices come amidst a altering of the guard at Prime Video. In September, Vernon Sanders, head of tv at Amazon MGM Studios, which produced each Butterfly and Countdown, exited his function after seven years. It was not too long ago introduced that former Netflix exec Peter Friedlander, who helped shepherd Stranger Issues and Bridgerton to large success, is entering into the function previously occupied by Sanders.
What this new period will imply for Prime Video originals stays to be seen, however talks of the streamer’s id disaster have been on the middle of this wider shift. The streamer nonetheless has mega-budget productions like Rings of Energy and extra middle-of-the-road fare like Reacher, however a wider take a look at their output has all the time prompted discussions of a scarcity of brand name id in the identical means that Netflix or Disney+ have with their exhibits.
With cost-cutting measures making their means into streaming and Prime Video seeking to re-align their imaginative and prescient with that of latest exec Friedlander, it appears the cancelations of Countdown and Butterfly might be the primary indications that he could also be cleansing home because the streamer prepares for a brand new period.