Taken season 2 losing almost entire cast
According to a new report coming in now via TVLine, the likes of Gaius Charles (John), Brooklyn Sudano (Asha), Monique Gabriela Curnen (Vlasik), Michael Irby (Scott), Jose Pablo Cantillo (Dave) and James Landry Hébert (Rem) are all going to be departing. This leaves Clive Standen and Jennifer Beals … but not really anyone else when it comes to permanent cast members. (The status of Jennifer Marsala is not clear as of this writing, but the site notes that she was not a series regular.)
This news comes in the wake of some other big news being announced for the season, which included a larger episode count but also a new showrunner. Greg Plageman of Person of Interest is coming aboard the show, and it’s really because of his resume that we have some faith in the show’s future.
What is a little more worrisome, meanwhile, is the news that the show is being left off of the NBC fall schedule despite being set to originally air there Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern. We’ve already written about this, and speculated further that maybe Timeless could come on in the show’s place.
Maybe there is an interesting creative reason for such a dramatic turnaround with the cast, but we are going to miss many of these performers. Gaius Charles is particular is one of our favorite character actors from the past several years, and it would be a shame to not have him as a part of this show moving forward. Nonetheless, change is a part of life in television, and with the ratings for many network shows falling, this leaves them grasping at straws and seeing if they can find anything else under the sun that will work.
Personally, we do think that Taken season 2 could be good just because there is a need for great action shows on TV. Also, Standen is fantastic and he has a commanding presence in most of his scenes.
What do you think about the Taken season 2 changes? Could this work, and do you think that this marks the beginning of the end for the show on NBC? Share in the comments.
Meanwhile, head over to this link for some further news now when it comes to the show. (Photo: NBC.)