The PURGE film franchise is still going on – a fifth film, possibly titled THE FOREVER PURGE, is supposed to be released later this year – but the television series spin-off has reached the end of the line. USA Network announced that they have cancelled The Purge after two seasons.
The Purge was described as a "solid demo performer", but it was also an expensive show to produce and viewership dropped 50% between the two seasons.
The cancellation of the show is part of an overall programming shift at USA Network; they're moving away from ongoing scripted series and toward more live and unscripted programming, as well as scripted projects that will be presented as "events".
Like the PURGE films, the TV show
revolved around a 12-hour period when all crime, including murder, is legal in an altered America ruled by a totalitarian political party.
Created by James DeMonaco, who has written every film in the PURGE series and directed the first three, The Purge is executive produced by DeMonaco, Jason Blum, Michael Bay, Andrew Form, Brad Fuller, Sébastien K. Lemercier, Thomas Kelly, and Anthony Hemingway.
Although I'm a fan of the PURGE films, I still haven't watched an episode of the TV show. I intend to get to it one of these days. Ethan Hawke, star of the original PURGE film, made an appearance in the season 2 finale of the show, which turned out to be the last episode ever, so at least that seems like something of a fitting, full circle ending.
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