AMC cancels acclaimed sci-fi streaming series, months after renewing it for Season 2

We will not return to Moonhaven. 

Deadline reports that AMC+, the streaming service launched two years ago by AMC Networks, has cancelled its order for a second season of the sci-fi series, just months after announcing the show was renewed for another round of episodes. The news comes as AMC moves toward major spending cuts across its reach, including both layoffs and hundreds of millions of dollars in restructuring changes. 

Created by Peter Ocko, the series revolved around the title community, a settlement built on the Moon in order to test the means by which humanity might survive beyond Earth. As the series began, the "Mooners" of Moonhaven were preparing to begin to teach the people of Earth what they'd learned about adapting to life beyond their home planet, making the show both a visually dynamic genre series and an interesting philosophical journey. The cast included genre mainstays like Joe Manganiello, Dominic Monaghan and Ayelet Zurer.

Before news of the reversal, AMC had pointed to Moonhaven as one of the prime examples of AMC+'s success so far. The streamer called the show its most successful original series, and the second most-watched new series since the launch of the streamer, placing just behind AMC mystery series Dark Winds. According to Deadline, Moonhaven was so highly touted at one point that AMC+ considered renewing the show for two new seasons before deciding on a single Season 2 order back in July. 

Now, Moonhaven won't even get that, but it's far from alone in the cost-cutting measures and surprising programming decisions moving through both linear and streaming TV of late. HBO Max has become a kind off poster child for these measures with a long list of cancellations, shelvings, and curtailments, but the same is true at other networks as well. Several shows have either been cancelled or refused additional episodes since The CW came under new ownership earlier this year, and then of course there's the other major programming reversal of the fall, when ABC dropped David E. Kelley's new series Avalon despite a straight-to-series order. 

There's no word yet on whether or not Moonhaven will search for a second home, or perhaps even adapt to a new storytelling medium to finish its narrative. For now, we just have to absorb the news that the series won't get a second chance at its original streaming home.

Looking for more sci adventures? Keep an eye out for SYFY's upcoming original series The Ark, premiering early 2023 only on SYFY.