Even reaching the No. 1 spot isn’t enough to keep a show off the chopping block these days. Prime Video has pulled the plug on “The Bondsman,” its new supernatural action drama starring Kevin Bacon, after just one season, TVLine confirmed this week.
The show dethroned “Reacher” in the streamer’s top 10 list when all eight episodes of season 1 debuted on April 3. It’s remained there ever since, though it’s dropped to the No. 2 spot in the U.S. after “Reacher” reclaimed its throne. Now, a little over a month after its premiere, Prime Video has revealed it’s opted not to proceed with a second season.
The series from Blumhouse Television stars Bacon as Hub Halloran, a washed-up bounty hunter murdered on the job only to be resurrected by the Devil himself to hunt down demons who have escaped Hell. Tracking down Hell’s fugitives is a bloody task, but it’s his only shot at redemption.
As the hunt continues, he must face estranged family, long-buried secrets, and the messy legacy of his time among the living. Threaded throughout is the familiar twang of country music, and the show comes by it honestly: Hub and his ex-wife (Jennifer Nettles) were once a hit duo before things soured.
Fans have been calling “The Bondsman” one of Bacon’s most entertaining roles in years. He’s joined by an all-star ensemble that includes Jolene Purdy (“The White Lotus”), Beth Grant (“The Mindy Project”), Maxwell Jenkins (“Lost in Space”) and Damon Herriman (“Justified”).
I’ve been meaning to check it out since it sounds cut from the same cloth as one of my favorite guilty pleasure movie series, “R.I.P.D.” Reading my colleague Alix Blackburn’s assessment of “The Bondsman” had me sold when she called it “part horror, part dark comedy, part Southern Gothic fever dream, and somehow, it works.”
She’s far from the only one who enjoyed Prime Video’s latest supernatural outing. Season 1 earned a respectable 83% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and audiences gave it a similarly solid 77% rating.
Reviews alone weren’t enough to convince Prime Video to order up a second season, though. Exactly why Amazon pulled the plug remains unclear, but considering how many people are still tuning in, I’m sure many will be disheartened to learn there won’t be more once they finish binge-watching the first season. C’est la vie in this era of streaming we’re in.
