TNT’s Will season 2 renewal odds: Is this Shakespearean story over?

Following last night’s season finale, what are the Will season 2 renewal odds? CarterMatt is going to do our best to figure that out!

The first thing that should clearly be pointed out here is that with a show like Will, (one airing on basic cable and thanks in part to support from advertisers) viewership within the 18-49 demographic ultimately matters so much more than anything else. This is what advertisers look towards to determine the amount of financial commitment that they are going to put into a show. At times we do think that it is certainly ageist and unfair in a time where viewers can watch television shows in so many different ways (and on their own terms with DVR’s etc.), but networks are still holding onto this current system, so we are going to look at it through this lens.

Unfortunately, (for right now) the live+same-day ratings in this demo don’t have us all that optimistic that a Will season 2 renewal is coming anytime in the near future. Through nine episodes (ratings for the finale are not fully available yet, as of this writing), the show is averaging a 0.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic. This puts Will on the low end of all of the shows that are in the TNT lineup. While we understand the attempt to create something big, artistic, and exciting with a new take on William Shakespeare and his life, we’ve come to see in 2017 that the appetite for this sort of entertainment just isn’t there in the mainstream. Most millennials these days are brought up thinking of Shakespeare as this boring, lifeless figure and they are forced to read in high school. As a result of that, it’s hard to get viewership from a show like this except from people who are devoted Shakespeare fans from the jump.

One other thing that has clearly hurt the show are the sheer number of viewers it lost over it’s first season. The series has lost roughly half of its demo viewers and total audience since the premiere episode aired earlier this summer, and with low-rated shows the key to success is to show some retention. If networks are going to be taking a big gamble, they’re going to want to know that people will come back if the show gets renewed. We’re not sure that there is enough of a proof-of-concept here with Will in order to give the show a chance for a second season. We’d like for it to happen, but for now we don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. TNT will have plenty of time over the next few weeks to make their decision, but there may not be any reason to wait that long if they have already made up their mind. Remember for a minute that Syfy decided to cancel Dark Matter fairly quickly after the end of its third season … and yea, we’re still pretty bitter about it.

Update: We have heard that the series has been canceled. Unfortunately, no other data matters.

What do you think the Will season 2 renewal odds are going to be over at TNT? Be sure to share in the attached comments below right now! (Photo: TNT)