‘I Love That for You,’ ‘Loki’ & More Shows Stuck in Limbo
The WGA writers’ strike could put the release dates of many shows in question. But even before Hollywood’s TV and film writers started picketing for fair pay, fans had been laying in wait for any news about a handful of shows.
One head-scratcher is Showtime‘s I Love That For You. The cable network has been radio silent about the Vanessa Bayer, Molly Shannon, and Jenifer Lewis-led comedy’s potential for a second season, despite having made renewal and cancellation announcements for other shows in its catalogue that debuted the same year (see below).
I Love That For You joins a string of shows the fate of which have been left in limbo. Below are a list of shows from the last few years that 1) were neither cancelled nor renewed or 2) have had pending release dates for a confusingly long time. They say time tells all, but we’re still waiting to learn what’s to come of these seven shows.
I Love That For You (Showtime)
This star-studded comedy was a hidden gem of the 2022 season. Showtime has had a shakeup in recent months, having been absorbed into Paramount (the cable network will now be known as Paramount+ with Showtime, with the Showtime streaming app’s catalogue moving to Paramount+), but other shows on the network have had their fates revealed amid the overhaul. We don’t love this waiting game for us.
Loki (Disney+)
This July will mark two years since Loki Season 1 ended. The Season 1 finale credits confirmed that “Loki will return in Season 2,” exciting fans of the Tom Hiddleston series. But audiences are still waiting for any new information about Season 2’s release date.
We do know the season has been filmed (it filmed in England in 2022). It’s now just a matter of when it will come out. Marvel had previously said the season would release in Summer 2023, but in March, Mobius actor Owen Wilson said to expect it at the “end of the summer or September” following his, Hiddleston, and Jonathan Majors‘ appearance in the Ant-Man sequel’s credits scene, per ET.
Could the controversy surrounding Jonathan Majors, who plays the main villain role as Kang in Season 2, be causing more Loki Season 2 release date delays?
Miracle Workers (TBS)
Here’s a tricky one: Miracle Workers Season 4 has been filmed and previously had a release date (January 16, 2023), but turmoil at TBS, TNT, and truTV canceled those plans. The Daniel Radcliffe, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Steve Buscemi-led comedy should be returning, but no one knows when. If/when it does, it’s possible it won’t be airing on TBS.
Ratched (Netflix)
Ryan Murphy‘s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest “prequel” (we use that term loosely) was renewed for Season 2 in 2020. Here we are in 2023, and there are no signs that Sarah Paulson, Cynthia Nixon, and more have returned to set. There are no signs that this bloody period drama has even gone into pre-production for its second season.
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Three years passed between Russian Doll Season 1 (February 2019) and Season 2 (April 2022). It’s now been a year since the second season came to a close, and there’s still no word on a Season 3 renewal or a cancellation.
Star and co-creator Natasha Lyonne gave an ominous update on Russian Doll Season 3 in talks with THR‘s Awards Chatter podcast in April 2023.
“I don’t know that it’s, like, my next order of business. But I don’t think that, sort of, philosophically, Russian Doll is something that I’ll ever be done with,” the Poker Face star said. “So, I think I’ll always—you know, life finds a way. And so does death, my friend.”
It seems Lyonne will film Poker Face Season 2 before we get any new Russian Doll episodes.
The Politician (Netflix)
Remember The Politician? It was one of Murphy’s first Netflix original series, and its second season came out in 2020. The cast was stacked with seasoned and new Hollywood stars such as Bette Midler, Judith Light, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Platt, and Julia Schlaepfer in Season 2 and Jessica Lange and Zoey Deutsch in Season 1. But the series hasn’t been canceled or renewed since Season 2 came to a close. At this point, we’d be surprised if it did come back.
The Courtship (USA)
NBC‘s attempted response to The Bachelorette and Bridgerton didn’t last a full season on the network before it moved to USA. In fact, the move was made after just two episodes aired.
The rest of the season carried out on Wednesdays at 11/10c on USA (it previously aired Sundays at 8/7c on NBC), but there was no official cancellation or renewal after the May 25, 2022 finale.
When a show goes so long without a renewal, all that’s left to assume is it’s not moving forward. But any decision announcement, regardless of its contents, would be less confusing for fans of these series.
