Freeform Cancels ‘Good Trouble’ & ‘Cruel Summer,’ Its Remaining Scripted Originals
It’s the end of an era at Freeform: The cable channel is calling it a day on Good Trouble and Cruel Summer, its remaining scripted originals.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, which announced the cancellations, the ratings for the two shows didn’t justify renewals amid Disney’s cost-cutting efforts — even though Simran Sethi, Freeform’s executive vice president of programming and content strategy, wanted to bring them back for more seasons.
And so Good Trouble, a spinoff of the earlier Freeform series The Fosters, will end with the already-filmed back half of its fifth season in 2024, with sources telling THR that the cast and crew will film additional scenes for a supersized finale. The sixth and final season of Freeform’s Grown-ish, the impending end of which was announced in March, will air in 2024 as well. Meanwhile, Cruel Summer will not return for a third season.
With Cruel Summer not returning and Good Trouble and Grown-ish reaching their series finale, it remains to be seen whether Freeform will greenlight new scripted originals or follow TNT and TBS’ lead and focus on syndicated repeats, unscripted TV, and sports coverage.
The uncertainty comes after Freeform — which was once carried in 74 million cable-TV households — was dropped from the lineup of Charter Communications’ nearly 15 million Spectrum-subscribing households as part of a deal with Disney earlier this year.
Good Trouble — created by Joanna Johnson, Bradley Bredeweg, and Peter Paige — follows the 20-something residents of a Los Angeles communal living apartment dubbed The Coterie. In the second half of Season 5, the roommates “will face their toughest obstacles yet as they’re confronted with evolving relationship challenges and new career opportunities,” Freeform said in an earlier press release. “Through highs and lows, romance and heartbreak, the Coterie crew will lean on each other while they navigate the next stage of adulthood.”
The series stars Cierra Ramirez, Zuri Adele, Sherry Cola, Bryan Craig, Emma Hunton, Tommy Martinez, Josh Pence, and Booboo Stewart. It’s executive-produced by Ramirez, Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Christine Sacani, Greg Gugliotta, and Johnson, who’s also the showrunner.
Cruel Summer, created by Bert V. Royal, is an anthologized teen thriller. Season 1 — starring Olivia Holt and Chiara Aurelia — followed the vanishing and reappearance of a popular young woman. Season 2 — starring Sadie Stanley, Lexi Underwood, and Griffin Gluck — centered on a love triangle complicated by a sex tape and a murder. Executive producers included Jessica Biel, Michelle Purple, Bill Purple, Season 1 showrunner Tia Napolitano, and Season 2 showrunner Elle Triedman.
Good Trouble, Season 5 Part 2 Premiere, Tuesday, January 2, 2024, 10/9c
