“Honestly, I don’t know what happened,” Davis said in an interview, following the show's cancellation
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Geena-Davis-The-Boroughs-052626-da90855fc396458688a1838b5e735292.jpg "Geena Davis as Renee in The Boroughs")
Credit: Netflix
NEED TO KNOW
- Geena Davis reveals she’s “terribly disappointed” The Boroughs was canceled after just one season
- In a new interview, Davis claims the series was canceled without an explanation
- The series featured an all-star cast, including Alfred Molina, Davis, Alfre Woodard and Bill Pullman
The Boroughs marked Geena Davis' return to TV after nearly a decade, so when she heard the news of its cancellation after just one season, she was devastated.
On Wednesday, June 17, Deadline reported that Netflix had canceled the second project from the Duffer Brothers — twins Ross and Matt Duffer — following Stranger Things. The news came as a shock to fans and the cast alike, as The Boroughs had just debuted in late May.
In her first interview following the announcement, Davis, 70, who stars as Renee, told The Hollywood Reporter that the show's cancellation was unexpected, given it was featured in Netflix's Top 10 following its debut.
Credit: Netflix
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“Honestly, I don't know what happened,” she told the outlet. “I think it's probably rare for a show to not get picked up and to have it announced that it's not being picked up while it's still in the top 10.”
“Fortunately, the creators [Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews], who became our dear, dear friends, were able to tell us before the news came out, and we're all terribly disappointed,” Davis continued. “We didn't expect that.”
PEOPLE has reached out to Netflix for comment on the show's cancellation.
Though she noted the creators purposefully didn't end the first season on a cliffhanger in order to make each season a complete story, Davis explained the intent was for The Boroughs to be an ongoing series.
Credit: Netflix
“If we had made it as a limited series, then it would've been a big hit, and everybody would be happy,” she said.
Saying goodbye to the show that revived her television career and to Renee, a character she said was written with her in mind, has not been easy for Davis.
“[The cast] so fell in love with each other that we just wanted to keep working together,” she said. “I suggested that the creators write another series, a completely different story with the exact same actors and writers and crew, and we just do it again like an anthology series, right?”
Davis noted that though she hasn't heard whispers of another studio picking it up, she would be happy to return if it did, and even mentioned she'd be interested in doing a spinoff to explore Renee's relationship with Paz, played by Carlos Miranda.
Alongside Davis and Miranda, The Boroughs starred Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman. The series followed a retirement community in New Mexico that is home to otherworldly creatures.
Executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, the series was created by Addiss and Matthews. Netflix has not shared details on why the show was canceled, and writers had reportedly been hired for a second season, with a third being planned, Deadline reports, citing a source close to the production.
The Thelma & Louise actress revealed that the role of Renee, a “badass” retired tour manager, was written specifically for her. When she first read the script, she thought to herself, “This is crazy how perfect this is for me,” she said.
“And then when I met with [the show creators], and I said that, they said, ‘Well, we wrote it with you in mind, hoping you would say yes.' "
The Boroughs season 1 is streaming now on Netflix.