Shark
The megalodon mockumentary has been retired from Shark Week, a Discovery Channel official revealed. Discovery Channel

Sorry, Shark Week fans. The Discovery Channel will not bring back the beloved megalodon mockumentary. After they duped viewers with “Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives” in 2013, and again with “Megalodon: The New Evidence,” Discovery promised to take a more scientific route in “Shark Week” in 2015, NPR reported Monday.

The channel scrolled a disclaimer to let viewers know the program was a sham, but with a new leader in charge, things were going to be different in 2015. Howard Swartz, who took over as head of development and production, told NPR the network wanted to stick to the facts this time around. "This year we're focusing quite a bit on research and science, more so probably than we have in the past," Swartz said.

Even though “The Monster Shark Lives” was the most-watched program on Shark Week, there won’t be another mockumentary. "We've toyed with a lot of different types of storytelling over the years," Swartz said. "And I just think now in a forward-looking direction, I think we wanna focus more on the research angle."

Michael Sorenson, the vice president of development, said last year they decided to make a fake documentary as a way to do something different. “We spend so much money on programming featuring conservation, science and technology that I think we wanted to give something to appease a different audience. I think that was the motivation behind ['Megalodon'],” he said.

Fans were pretty upset to hear the news.

There were also plenty who hadn’t heard about the megalodon special being canceled, and tweeted how excited they were to see the new mockumentary.

Follow me on Twitter @mariamzzarella

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