Joy-hating boneheads at HBO cancel Los Espookys
Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega, and Fred Armisen's charming Spanish-language comedy will end after two seasons on HBO
The joy-hating boneheads done done it again, Variety (sort of) reports, with news breaking this afternoon that HBO has decided to cancel Los Espookys. Created by Julio Torres, Ana Fabrega, and Fred Armisen, this weird, wonderful, and extremely funny semi-supernatural comedy will end its run on HBO after just two seasons—12 measly episodes!—on the air.
The rare Spanish-language show to air first-run in the US, Los Espookys blows right past language barriers with a winning blend of magical realism and rapid-fire silliness, centering on four friends (Bernardo Velasco, Cassandra Ciangherotti, and series co-creators Torres and Fabrega) who band together to create fake hauntings, alien attacks, and other bizarre phenomena for a variety of oddball clients. Aggressively unpredictable, and powered by both a charming hand-crafted visual sensibility and a surprisingly gentle approach to comedy, Los Espookys was like nothing else on TV. The cancellation comes shortly after the release of the show’s second season back in September; said second season was long-delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, arriving fully three years after season one.
(They’re all still on HBO Max, mind you. Go watch Los Espookys! Sorry, we’re just upset.)
It’s not all doom and gloom, admittedly: Torres maintains a pretty robust working relationship with HBO, with two different shows—Little Films and Lucky—currently in development. And the HBO statement mentions that the network “would welcome the opportunity to work with this cast and crew in the future.” Even so, the reality of losing Renaldo, Ursula, Andres, and especially strange, wonderful, amazing Tati is a nasty blow. If only there was someone we could hire to convince them of the error of their ways—possibly by faking some sort of alien invasion, or maybe a Bigfoot attack. Alas.