CBS Cancels Extant After Two Seasons

Halle Berry’s science fiction family drama Extant won’t be back next year.

CBS announced today that it has cancelled the summer series after two under-performing seasons, and instead will partner with Berry in producing a new legal drama.

“CBS, Halle Berry and the producers have decided to conclude the Extant story after last season’s exciting and fitting conclusion,” CBS Entertainment President Glenn Geller said. “Extant played an important role in expanding CBS’s lineup of original scripted programming in the summer. We are proud of the show’s success on the network, as well as its popularity on Amazon Prime Video. We also want to thank the incomparable Halle Berry for her commitment and support for the series, and look forward to working with her on our next project together.”

The show followed a former astronaut named Molly Woods (Barry), who returned home to discover that she had inexplicably become pregnant with an alien life form during her 13-month solo mission on board an orbital space station.

The show was heavily retooled and half of the cast replaced for Season Two, which aired this past summer.

“I am so proud of what we accomplished on Extant,” Berry said in a statement. “This season seemed such a natural place to end Molly’s journey that I, along with CBS, felt it best served the story to leave it there. I’ve loved this experience working with such a talented cast and creative team. ‎ It was my first foray into episodic television, and I’m excited to continue my relationship with CBS, producing more compelling stories through my 606 Films production banner.”

This year the series’ ratings were down more than 30 percent over 2014, averaging a 1.1 rating in adults 18 to 49 and 6.35 million total viewers (Live + 7 Days), according to Variety.

CBS has also cancelled Under the Dome, based on the work of Stephen King, after three seasons. Topping the channel’s ratings for summer dramas was the newcomer Zoo, which will be back for a second season.

Berry will next produce Legalese for CBS, from The Good Wife‘s Steven Lichtman.

This doesn’t mean that CBS is getting out of the science fiction and fantasy genre, though: the hotly anticipated comic book show Supergirl debuts October 26 (8:30/7:30c).