John Legend Says ‘Underground’ Will Find New Home After Being Canceled

Following the cancellation of “Underground” by WGN America, co-executive producer John Legend has assured fans that the series will try to find a new home on another network or streaming service.

On Tuesday, Legend took to Twitter to confirm the cancellation, writing, “WGN America has been bought and is going a different direction strategically. We will find a new home #Underground!”

The singer continued tweeting, saying “content wins” and the team behind “Underground” wasn’t “reliant on a particular network to make great content.” Legend added, “We’re so proud of our show and the audience that supported!”

Following his original tweets, Legend asked fans to tweet what network or streaming service they would like to see “Underground” move to. “Feel free to drop some hints to the networks/streaming services you want to pick up #Underground. Show them who will be watching!” he tweeted.

While some fans threw out TV channels such as Oprah Winfrey’s OWN and History, the consensus appeared to be Hulu. “#Hulu you have done an outstanding job on #hadmaidstale. #Undergroundwgn is an excellent show, #’s don’t lie this series is phenomenal,” wrote one Twitter user.

WGN America’s parent company, Tribune Media, was recently bought by Sinclair Broadcast Group for $3.9 billion. In a recent statement, Sinclair’s CEO, Chris Ripley, said WGN America’s ratings didn’t justify the amount of money spent on its shows.

“The ratings WGN America [delivers] doesn’t justify the type of spending they do on the original programming side,” Ripley told Wall Street analysts during a conference call, Variety reports. “The channel could be run much more profitably on a fraction of what they spend on programming.”

Tribune Media’s CEO, Peter Kern, also confirmed the network would be going in a new direction. “Despite ‘Underground’ being a terrific and important series, it no longer fits with our new direction and we have reached the difficult decision not to renew it for a third season,” he said.

Kern added, “We are tremendously proud of this landmark series that captured the zeitgeist and made an impact on television in a way never before seen on the medium… It is our hope that this remarkable show finds another home and continues its stories of courage, determination and freedom.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, WGN America will no longer have any premium scripted original shows and will focus on “content with reduced license fees -- in the $2 million per episode range.” The network also recently canceled the show “Outsiders.”

In one of his tweets, Legend warned viewers to be “wary” of Sinclair, claiming the company was trying to turn local TV stations into “mini Fox Newses, but more to the right.”

As for the future of “Underground,” the series was already reportedly passed on by BET and OWN due to its $5 million per episode price tag, THR reports. But the Sony-produced TV show does have a streaming deal with Hulu, so a move to the service wouldn’t be farfetched.