Extant is no longer extant

Extant, a show with a title that means “to be in existence,” will no longer do that, Deadline reports. After two seasons, CBS and star Halle Berry have decided to end the summer science-fiction series, which did pretty good business on Amazon Prime but didn’t entice enough viewers to its network home. The first season followed an astronaut named Molly (Berry) as she tried to solve the mystery of her pregnancy following a year-long solo mission in outer space. Then, in a bid to get more viewers, the second season put Molly on the run and added a revamped supporting cast, including Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the new male lead. Alas, ratings slipped even further during season two.

In a statement, Berry said, “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.” That’s probably the most positive way someone can spin a show being canceled, but Berry has a lot to be happy about, since she’s already attached to executive producer and star in another CBS series, Legalese. Written by Steven Lichtman, Legalese follows a biracial lawyer (Berry, most likely) who follows a case from Chicago to New Orleans, where she partners with a “good ol’ boy”—i.e., “racist”—white attorney, a pairing which will of course expose the biases that each have toward one another. For some reason, we want this to be a musical, but it’s probably not.

 
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