Stephen King Series Canceled Even After Season 2 Reports

Part of what makes this news both confusing and disappointing is that as early as this past February, EPIX gave every indication that fans could expect more Chapelwaite. That was when EPIX made an official statement regarding the development of season 2 that spelled out what fans could expect from such a season, including juicy tidbits such as “the Boone curse didn’t die with Jakub” and that “De Vermis Mysteriis remains as powerful as ever.”

Suddenly canceling the show after previously indicating that Chapelwaite would get another season has been enough to give fans whiplash, and many are left with a simple question: just what the hell happened?

First, it’s worth noting that while EPIX issued a previous statement about developing Chapelwaite’s second season, the network never officially confirmed that a second season had been ordered. Therefore, this news is certainly disappointing, but it doesn’t contradict any previous EPIX statements so much as it confirms fans’ worst fears due to the lack of updates regarding the show. Now, fans are left to speculate as to the different reasons that EPIX cooled down on Chapelwaite after its generally successful first season.

So far, speculation surrounding why we won’t get a Chapelwaite season 2 mostly revolves around the earlier writer’s strike and the current actor’s strike: these strikes have made it difficult (and sometimes impossible) to plan for future productions, and EPIX might have decided to wash their hands of Chapelwaite in favor of developing other series. For that matter, there’s always a possibility that network executives were unhappy with the development of another season and finally gave the show the ax. 

Either way, this spells out bad news for Stephen King: his short story “Jerusalem’s Lot” was designed as a prequel to his famous Salem’s Lot novel, and that novel recently received a film adaptation. The film even had a release date at one point, but there now seem to be no solid plans to release that movie. The Salem’s Lot film seems to have fallen through the cracks, which is doubly unfortunate because a second season of Chapelwaite could have increased fan demand to check out the movie.

Even though it won’t be getting a second season, we recommend you check out the first season of Chapelwaite on Max. It stars Academy Award-winning actor Adrian Brody as well as fan-favorite Schitt’s Creek actor Emily Hampshire, and the show is a great 19th-century period piece with all the spooks and scares you expect from a Stephen King story. Watching it, you will probably have ample opportunities to utter the Schitt’s Creek line that was so often directed at Hampshire’s character: “Ew!”