‘Chasing Life’ Canceled After Season 2 Cliffhanger; How Did The Original Series End?
Unfortunately, “Chasing Life” died before fans could learn the fate of the lead character. ABC Family canceled the drama, which followed a 24-year-old reporter diagnosed with cancer. The news came less than a week after the Season 2 finale ended with a big cliffhanger: April (Italia Ricci) decided to stop her cancer treatments. That’s where the American series ends, but the original Mexican series might hint at where the series could have gone in Season 3 and beyond.
“Chasing Life” was based on the telenovela “Terminales,” which aired in 2008. The series was slightly different, but it still followed a young magazine journalist Abril (Ana Claudia Talancón) as she was diagnosed with cancer. Italia Ricci watched the original and thought that the ABC Family version wasn’t as risqué as the original. “That one’s a little racier than ours, which I was pretty surprised by, but I hope I make them proud and do them justice with my interpretation,” Ricci told Zap2It before the show’s premiere in 2014.
Despite their differences, Ricci thought that “Chasing Life” would end in a similar fashion. “I knew that April ends up passing away by the end of [the Mexican series ‘Terminales,’ upon which ‘Chasing Life’ is based],” the actress recently told TVLine. “I’m not 100 percent sure, but I feel like that’s probably something we want to maintain. Although, in the original, she beats cancer … then gets hit by a bus and dies.”
Judging from a video of the final moments, Abril actually gets into a car accident with another vehicle that is carrying her friends in the series finale. Watch the clip from the end of “Terminales” below:
Show runner Patrick Sean Smith wasn’t so sure of April’s death in future episodes of “Chasing Life.” Despite the character’s decision to stop treatment, Smith thought that her choice opened up one of several exciting new plotlines.
“There's a lot to explore in Season 3, such as April's emotional state and her big decision to end treatment,” Smith told the Hollywood Reporter after the Season 2 finale. “There's a lot to explore with Uncle George and the manuscript and the investigation that's now in play, and then a lot to explore with Brenna and Finn now that Greer is moving back to town, and also what happens with Beth. I mean, everyone's life is up in the air right now by the end of the second season.”
It doesn’t seem as though fans will ever get to see those story lines on TV, unless they can change ABC Family's mind. Some viewers are already trying to organize a campaign to renew the series.
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