(Starz)
The early days of Queen Elizabeth I won’t continue to unfold on Starz. The cable channel has cancelled Becoming Elizabeth, so we won’t be seeing a second season. The first season of eight episodes finished airing in early August.
A historical drama series, the Becoming Elizabeth TV show stars Alicia von Rittberg, Oliver Zetterström, Romola Garai, Jessica Raine, Tom Cullen, John Heffernan, Jamie Blackley, Alexandra Gilbreath, Jamie Parker, Leo Bill, Bella Ramsey, Ekow Quartey, Alex Macqueen, and Olivier Huband. The story revolves around the younger years of Elizabeth Tudor (Rittberg), long before she ascended the of England throne and became Queen Elizabeth I. An orphaned teenager, she became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court. The death of King Henry VIII sees his nine-year-old son Edward (Zetterström), take the throne and sets into motion a dangerous scramble for power when Elizabeth, Edward, and their sister Mary (Garai), find themselves pawns in a game between the great families of England and the powers of Europe who vie for control of the country.
Airing on Sunday nights, the first season of Becoming Elizabeth averaged a 0.01 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 136,000 viewers in the live+same day ratings (including DVR playback through 3:00 AM). While these numbers don’t include further delayed or streaming viewing, they are a very good indicator of how a show is performing, especially when compared to others on the same channel. There can be other economic factors involved in a show’s fate, but typically the higher-rated series are renewed and the lower-rated ones are cancelled. Becoming Elizabeth was one of the lowest-rated scripted series on Starz in the overnights.
The show was created and written by Anya Reiss. She broke the news of the show’s cancellation by Starz via Twitter.
So to anyone who misinterpreted Becoming Elizabeth’s end – it was not a cliffhanger – but an ironic wink to our audience – because of course, you know the rest of the story… so why would we continue. #becomingelizabeth
Or at least… that’s my story 😮💨
— Anya Reiss (@anya_reiss) September 21, 2022
— Anya Reiss (@anya_reiss) September 21, 2022
you got a hell of a wait….
— Anya Reiss (@anya_reiss) September 21, 2022
Starz to us. I’m afraid. pic.twitter.com/YGrKMZWd1Z
— Anya Reiss (@anya_reiss) September 21, 2022
What do you think? Did you follow the Becoming Elizabeth TV series on Starz? Are you sorry to hear that this drama won’t be getting a second season?