Coming as no surprise, Syfy has announced that its sci fi / horror series Nightflyers, based on the George R.R. Martin novella of the same name, will not be returning for a second season. That series bowed last December with a modest 0.15 rating based on same day viewing for the 18-49 demographic and saw its numbers go down from there. Overall, it averaged only a 0.09 score (that’s nine one-hundredths of a ratings point) over its ten episode run. The network made the decision to run the show nightly from Sunday to Thursday across two weeks while also releasing it digitally on Syfy.com each night, but that did little to bring in viewers to the show. It received mixed reviews, and according to Variety it is the most expensive series that Syfy has produced up to this point. The network has been looking for its Game of Thrones, and probably thought it found the right property with the George R.R. Martin based story, but it failed to bring in viewership sufficient to justify the cost. In the past, Syfy has shown a willingness to keep shows going for a second season to give them time to find an audience, but the high production costs vs. the low viewership probably created too much of a stumbling block for this one.
Nightflyers follows a group of scientist who set out on the spaceship known as the Nightflyer to make contact with aliens that have been detected at the edge of the solar system. But several deadly events occur along the way causing those aboard to question the mission’s true purpose. It stars Eoin Macken, David Ajala, Jodie Turner-Smith, Angus Sampson, and Gretchen Mol and had Constantine‘s Daniel Cerone onboard as showrunner.
As we head into the final months of the regular season, expect more renewal and cancellation announcements. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as well as the latest ratings results.
