NBC has canceled Debris, Deadline confirmed on Thursday, after the fate of the freshman sci-fi detective drama had been up in the air following its May 24 finale that wrapped up a 13-episode run.
It was one of five NBC shows — along with Good Girls, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, Manifest and Ellen’s Game of Games — that were left off the network’s list this month of returning series and new shows. A big swing and the first NBC 2020 pilot to get a series order and premiere on the network, a renewal had not been looking promising.
The series, from Fringe creator J.H. Wyman and hailing from Legendary TV and Universal TV starred Jonathan Tucker and Riann Steele as agents from two different continents and two different mind-sets. They had to work together to investigate when wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft has mysterious effects on humankind. Norbert Leo Butz, Scoobius Pip, Tyrone Benskin, Anjali Jay, John Noble and Thomas Cardrot also starred.
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Debris had been a broadcast unicorn: a dense sci-fi drama that has drawn comparisons to some of the classics in the genre including The X Files, Men In Black and other titles in the genre. Well-received by critics, with a 72% Rotten Tomatoes score, it had been a soft linear performer whose ratings are in the same low range as Good Girls and Zoey’s, and it had done significantly better online.
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Wyman said after Monday’s finale, the episode entitled “Celestial Body,” that there was more story to tell.
“If the worst case is to happen, that, they decide that they weren’t going to continue this, I would look for other avenues to continue telling this story,” he said, “because I think that the story itself is really a story worth writing about.”
Wyman executive produced Debris through his Frequency Films alongside Jason Hoffs. Legendary and Uni TV co-produced with Frequency.
Variety was first to report today’s news.