Season 3 of Why Women Kill won’t be produced after all.
There has been a recent wave of TV show cancellations, with companies like Netflix and HBO Max terminating popular programs. However, Paramount Plus has just announced what is possibly the most shocking cancellation of the year.
Why Women Kill has reportedly been canceled by Paramount Plus after two seasons, according to Variety(opens in new tab). In a statement, the streaming service said, “Paramount Plus has made the tough choice not to move forward with Season 3 of Why Women Kill. We want to express our gratitude to our joint venture partners at CBS Studios and Imagine Television Studios, as well as to the fantastic showrunner and creator Marc Cherry and the outstanding writers, cast, and crew for two unforgettable seasons.
The dark comedy-drama series had already been renewed for a third season back in December 2021, which is what makes this cancellation so shocking. Because Paramount Plus is no longer moving forward with the project, it would appear that something changed over the last seven months. This is in spite of the positive reviews it has received from both reviewers and viewers.
What was Why Women Kill about?
A drama series with a dash of dark comedy was Why Women Kill. The series follows the events that, as its name suggests, ultimately result in fatalities brought on by women. The program was an anthology series with completely distinct casts and unrelated plotlines in each of its two seasons.
Three eras—1963, 1984, and 2019—are represented in the first season. It centers on three ladies who share a Pasadena home and are all dealing with marital infidelity. Events go out of hand during the season to the point where each plot ends in death. Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Alexandra Daddario were all part of the season one cast.
Season two makes a change and takes place entirely in 1949. In it, Allison Tolman plays a bored housewife who uses any means necessary to join the neighborhood gardening club. Lana Parrilla, B.K. Cannon, Jordane Christie, Matthew Daddario, Veronica Falcón, and Nick Frost also appeared in the second season of the program.
What did the critics say about Why Women Kill?
Why Women Kill’s debut season received a mediocre but respectable 67 percent on Rotten Tomatoes (opens in new tab). The show improved throughout the course of the season, according to Gwen Ihant of the AV Club(opens in new tab): “As the weeks went on, I found Why Women Kill even more intriguing, moving, and immensely delightful.”
Hawk Stuever of The Washington Post(opens in new tab) was less enthusiastic, commenting that the women in the program “felt sketched rather than fully formed. The show neglects to pause and reveal who they are because it is so preoccupied with explaining why they kill.
However, the second season of the show received much better reviews, earning an amazing 86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The more narrowly focused plot as well as Tolman’s performance in particular received praise. Many commentators were pleased that season two’s single location replaced the season one’s numerous timelines.
While Why Women Kill took some time for critics to warm to, audiences seem to have been smitten with the series almost right away. The combined audience rating for the Paramount Plus series was 91 percent, which is rather good.
Analysis: A blow to Paramount Plus
The dearth of original material on Paramount Plus has been one of our main complaints since the service’s launch, so it is upsetting to see the streamer cancel one of its most popular programs.
This cancellation’s cause is not readily apparent. The fact that a third season was initially ordered suggests that the show wasn’t generating enough new subscribers, so it can’t have been a total loss.
Why Women Kill season 3 may not have been going so well behind the scenes, and Paramount Plus officials concluded that canceling the season was the wisest course of action. But for the time being, all we can do is guess and hope that the reasoning behind this unexpected choice becomes evident in due course.
At least South Park: The Streaming Wars Part 2 is still available for customers to enjoy. On July 13, the second episode of this animated special will be available. If Paramount Plus wants to make it to the top of our list of the best streaming services, it will require more content than just South Park.