STAR canceled at Fox; can season 4 happen somewhere else?

Consider this the big cancellation news today that we did not see coming. Today, Fox opted to cancel STAR after three seasons on the air, and quite possibly one of the biggest cliffhangers that we’ve seen in quite some time.

The network made the official announcement tonight, and we have to imagine that the ratings were just one part of the equation. After all, STAR was not one of the network’s lowest-rated shows. It has a reasonably loyal following, it was set in the same universe as Empire, and we thought that it would honestly be safe. Alas, clearly some executives had some other plans.

So why did this actually happen? A big part of it may have a thing or two to do with some of the biggest changes at the top for Fox as a network. Disney ended up purchasing a number of Fox assets a little bit earlier this year, and one of those assets just happens to be 20th Century Fox TV. Because STAR is produced by that studio, and because the network no longer has control of said studio, it’s not anywhere near as easy for Fox to make money off of this show as it once was. All of this is important to think about in terms of economics.

Clearly, in some shape or form, Fox did not make the money that they wanted to on STAR, or they just wanted to go in a different direction with a different array of shows.

Could the series have a second life elsewhere?

We’re not ruling it out. Because this show had reasonable demo ratings, we do think that there could be some other interested parties. For example, wouldn’t Hulu be a pretty good home? That’s something that we’re at least considering right now, given that it is owned in part by Disney, it seems to be a perfect fit for the demographic, and there could be a need there for more original programming. Netflix is less of a viable contender, and they’ve canceled so many shows as of late than it’s hard for us to be altogether hopeful that they would keep it long-term in the first place.

Obviously, the cancellation news is still raw, but this is something that we’re looking to have a little bit more information on in the near future. Stay tuned!