Nine months after Chris Carter’s long-awaited return to TV, The After, was given a full series order, Amazon has done a complete 180. With shooting on the pilot completed well over a year ago, the online giant decided to not go ahead with the eight episodes it had previously committed to.
“We have decided to not move forward with The After,” said Amazon Studios vp Roy Price. “We would like to thank Chris Carter, the phenomenal cast, crew and producers for all their efforts.”
The news comes courtesy of Variety, who report that Carter’s show was heralded by many as his great comeback to television. His game-changing supernatural serial, The X-Files, dominated the television landscape for years with its conspiracy theories and government cover-ups. Taking a step back from that realm, but not sci-fi altogether, The After was primed to jump on a popular bandwagon, as it focused on eight strangers trying to survive in the violent aftermath of the apocalypse.
Amazon granted the show a full eight episode run after favourable feedback rolled in for the pilot – made public to subscribers of Amazon Prime. Starring Louise Monot, Sharon Lawrence, Aldis Hodge, Adrian Pasdar, Arielle Kebbel, Jamie Kennedy, Andrew Howard, Jaina Lee Ortiz and Sam Littlefield, the series was slated to kick off its story directly after the dreaded end-of-the-world. Carter had planned for the show to revolve loosely around Dante’s Inferno; “I’m using that as my model,” he said.
Sadly, we’ll never know what Carter had in store for his 99-episode story arc of The After, which only got one full episode in the can.
