Emerald City
NBC canceled “Emerald City” after one season. Pictured: Ana Ularu as West, Jordan Loughran as Tip, Gerran Howell as Jack, Joely Richardson as Glinda/North, Vincent D’Onofrio as the Wizard/Frank, Adria Arjona as Dorothy Gale, Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Lucas. Michael Muller/NBC

There’s no place like home and it looks like “Emerald City” is staying home. NBC revealed the fate of the limited series event yesterday. According to TVLine, the “Wizard of Oz” reboot has been canceled by the peacock network. This should come as no surprise to viewers since the TV series experienced a steep decline in viewership during its 10-episode, single-season run.

“Emerald City,” a show directed by the critically-acclaimed director Tarsem Singh, debuted to 4.5 million viewers and a 1.0 demo rating. The Season 1 finale drew an abysmal 2.9 million viewers and a 0.7 rating.

Moreover, “Emerald City” was an expensive series to make. It used minimal CGI but had elaborate sets. Shooting took place all over Europe. Executive producers Shaun Cassidy and David Schulner told Entertainment Weekly that the show was shot non-episodically, like a 10-hour feature film, along the coast of Spain, in a remote national park in Croatia, in 15th century castles in Hungary and in parts of Barcelona. Which means, NBC spent a lot of money is making it.

READ: Snapchat to make originals shows by partnering with NBC, ABC.

Additionally, despite Vincent D’Onofrio playing the Wizard, “Emerald City” failed to charm audiences. The cast, besides D’Onofrio, included Adria Arjona as Dorothy Gale, Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Lucas/Roan, Ana Ularu as the witch of the West, Jordan Loughran as Tip, Gerran Howell as Jack, Mido Hamada as the king’s guard Eamonn, Joely Richardson as Glinda/the witch of the North and Stephanie Martini as Lady Ev.

“Emerald City” is also one of the few shows that has been axed twice by a network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was first ordered to series in 2014 before it was canceled. Months later, it was revived with a new writer. Which means, it took two years for it to journey from script to screen.

While fans aren’t really surprised that it got axed, since it lacked luster, many will miss some of its fine actors. Check out some of the reactions on Twitter below:

“Emerald City” is a 10-episode, single-season show that reimagined “The Wizard of Oz.” Based on a series of books written by L. Frank Baum, the plot revolves around Kansas nurse Dorothy Gale. She desires more from life. On her eighteenth birthday, while searching for her biological mother, Dorothy is swept up into the eye of a tornado and transported to a mystical world where an all-powerful ruler called the Wizard governs the kingdom. He has outlawed magic.

Dorothy’s journey home is a difficult one because she has to battle witches, the Wizard and learn a shocking fact about her mother.

Although “The Wizard of Oz” became a popular tale for children, it was actually written as political allegory. “Emerald City” reimagines the popular tale as an adult drama and explores ideas of women empowerment, the pursuit of identity and the fight between science and nature.

This is the second show that has been canceled by NBC. DC Comics comedy “Powerless” was also axed after one season.

RELATED STORIES