Now Apocalypse S2 Script Mirrored Real Cancellation
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- Gregg Araki told Deadline that Now Apocalypse Season 2 was fully written, the cast had been paid to return, and production was in prep before a Starz leadership change halted everything.
- Araki said a Starz executive was fired and the network's mandate shifted, mirroring a Season 2 plotline in which character Carly's TV development executive gets fired in episode 9 and her show is put in turnaround — a detail he called "so prophetic."
- Now Apocalypse Season 1 ran 10 episodes on Starz from March to May 2019, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh and Gregory Jacobs under Soderbergh's deal at the network.
- Starz COO Jeff Hirsch called the show "a great show" and "a great experiment for us" when announcing its cancellation in July 2019, after only one season.
- The revelation came during a Deadline conversation about Araki and co-writer Karley Sciortino's new film I Want Your Sex, premiering in theaters Friday, July 31.
Why it matters: Araki's account means a finished Season 2 of Now Apocalypse — scripts written, actors paid, prep underway — was scrapped because of an executive departure, not creative failure. For working creators, it illustrates how a single leadership shift at a network can erase completed work; for Starz, it adds a specific example to a long history of premium-cable shows cut short after one season.
