Underground season 3 won’t happen on OWN, Oprah Winfrey confirms

In the quest to make an Underground season 3 happen, the Oprah Winfrey Network was a potential home for the series. After all, it boasts a big audience within the show’s core demo, and Winfrey is known to like uplifting series that celebrate heroes. Those who assisted with the Underground Railroad absolutely qualify for that.

Unfortunately, it takes a little more than a hero to get Underground on the air — it also takes someone who is okay with the risk of losing a lot of money. The show was canceled by WGN America due to its desire to restructure, and as Oprah told journalists recently (per Refinery29) while promoting Queen Sugar, the cost of the show makes it almost impossible for her to do:

“I can’t afford Underground … It cost twice as much to make as Queen Sugar. As a matter of fact, my dear friend John Legend called me personally and asked me about it, but we’d already been talking about how we could make it work […] it’s like $5 million an episode, so we can’t afford it. It’s not cheap, I think because it’s a period piece.”

The way to look at it is this: In addition to all of the costumes and the props, anytime Underground goes to a new location it has to make it over to remove any touch of modern flair. That takes time and money, and there is also a rather big cast to think about. It is critically-acclaimed, but television is about making money in the end. If the ratings don’t justify the cost, the series falls by the wayside.

As of right now, but OWN and BET seem to be moving forward without Underground, but the show is not officially dead, either. There is still a reasonably good chance that someone else could pick the show up down the road, but nothing is confirmed and we’re not in the business of creating false show. More great shows than ever are getting saved following their cancellation, but the reality here is still that the majority of great shows still fail to find a new home. It’s just that the success stories are a little more frequent these days.

Once there is more news to report on when it comes to Underground season 3 and the continued search for a future home, rest assured such news will be made available over at the link here. (Photo: WGN.)