Recapping the stories from the week relating to the renewal / cancellation of sci fi and fantasy television shows.  This article may be reprinted in part or in whole as long as links back to the original post are included.

The Shannara Chronicles is Cancelled, But Getting Shopped Around

Spike announced the cancellation of fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles just ahead of its name change to the Paramount Network which occured on January 18th. That series aired its second season on Spike this past Fall to low ratings and the cancellation announcement comes as no surprise. The Shannara Chronicles started on MTV in 2016 where it had moderate ratings but saw very good delayed viewing gains (more important to the cable channels than the broadcast networks). It was renewed for a second season, but was caught up in the Viacom shuffle that saw it moved to sister cable channel Spike. That network aired back-to-back episodes of the show through its second season that seemed to suggest it was trying to burn off the series as quickly as possible. There had been no word on the show’s fate after that, but advertisements for the new Paramount Network did not include The Shannara Chronicles as one of the original shows scheduled to air there. The show’s studio Sonar is currently shopping it around, including to Netflix (where the first season is streaming) and Amazon. It has a very loyal and vocal fanbase that managed to get the show ranked Number 5 in our recent Save My Show poll, and they should definitely take to the social networks to support Sonar’s efforts.

The Walking Dead Will Be Back for a Ninth Season

Coming as absolutely no surprise, AMC announced last weekend that its zombie-pocalypse series The Walking Dead will be returning for a ninth season. That show has seen a notable decline in its ratings over the past two years (what I have referred to as the “Walking Dexit”), but it is still the highest rated scripted show on all of television and the renewal announcement has been expected. Along with that news came word that Angela Kang will be taking over showrunner duties from Scott M. Gimple starting with the new season. Gimple has been blamed by fans for taking the show off course and poorly handling the introduction of Negan. Kang has been a writer on the show for several seasons and fans will likely welcome a new person coming aboard with hopes for a course correction in the coming season. Gimple will not be leaving the show, he has been moved to the position of Chief Content Officer for the franchise and will be tasked with “potential brand extensions on a variety of platforms”. The show returns for the second half of its eighth season on February 25th and the ninth season will be slated for a Fall 2018 debut.

The Tick Will Continue to Fight Evil for Another Season

Amazon announced this week that its superhero comedy The Tick, based on the Ben Edlund comic book of the same name, will be getting a second season.  That news comes as no surprise as the series has received warm reviews and good buzz thus far in its first season on the streaming service.  The second season will consist of ten episodes as did the first and is scheduled to debut at some point in 2019.  That show returns for the second half of its first season on February 23rd.

IFC Renews Stan Against Evil For a Third Season

IFC announced last weekend that it has renewed its horror comedy series Stan Against Evil for a third season. That show, which stars John C. McGinley in title role, has not drawn a lot of attention across its first two seasons, but it has performed well enough for the smaller cable net it airs on. The renewal notice has been expected because the show performed at about the same levels that got it renewed after its first season. There has been no word yet on whether Stan might team up with Ash so that they can fight both the Evil and the Dead.

Ratings Results of Interest: Black Lightning Strikes with Its Premiere

On Tuesday, The CW’s newest superhero series Black Lightning had its debut and pulled a 0.8 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic with 2.3 million total viewers (according to the preliminary numbers). That is a strong start for the show, especially on the fifth place network, and those are the best debut numbers that network has seen since Supergirl bowed in Fall 2016 (moving over from CBS the prior season). Since The CW is the happy network and likes to renew its shows, consider Black Lightning in good shape unless it completely tanks in the ratings in subsequent weeks (unlikely).

Keep up with the ratings performance of the sci fi and fantasy shows throughout the week with the Cancellation Watch posts and also be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for the latest ratings numbers as well as breaking news.