Axed: Shantaram

Apple TV+’s drama series Shantaram, starring Charlie Hunnam, will not be returning for a second season, which is disappointing news for the local production sector.

Based on Gregory David Roberts’ epic, 900-plus-page novel, Shantaram was an ambitious, big-scale production shot across Australia, India and Thailand, and impacted by the pandemic.

The series had shot two episodes before pausing filming in late February 2020. Because of its expansive nature requiring filming in multiple countries, the series did not resume production on the remaining 10 episodes until May 2021.

What kinds of conversations have there been so far about a potential season 2 renewal?,” EW.com recently asked star Charlie Hunnam.

“I don’t know what conversations are going on about a second season,” he said. “I don’t even know if there even are any conversations going on at this point about a second season. It’s a weird thing — streaming platforms work in a completely different way than traditional television networks, which is [by a] really very clear arithmetic: If a show is getting big numbers and can justify generating large ad revenue, then it’s pretty much a given that it’ll come back. I don’t quite know what the arithmetic within streaming platforms are to justify whether a show comes back. Nobody ever really knows what [the viewership] is because most of the streaming platforms are very reticent to publish exactly what the viewership is of shows.

“So listen, your guess is as good as mine. My hope would be that they feel as though the show is good enough to justify another season. But honestly, I’ve got no f—ing idea. I am not privy to those conversations in any way, shape, or form.”

Source: Deadline