After the show’s cancellation, Heels showrunner Mike O’Malley reveals the season 3 story that would have included plans for Jack’s injury.
Summary
- Heels, despite being canceled, received acclaim and earned three nominations at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards.
- Showrunner Mike O’Malley is actively searching for a new network for Heels and is willing to share his ideas for season 3.
- The future of the show will explore the aftermath of Jack’s serious injury and focus on the theme of finding connection and kindness in the wrestling world.
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Despite its cancelation, the Heels showrunner is open to talking about his plans for season 3. In a show about athletes struggling to maintain their roles in professional wrestling, brothers Jack (Stephen Amell) and Ace Spade (Alexander Ludwig) are left to play the heel and the hero respectively. Heels proved to be a strong success, earning three nominations for the Critics’ Choice Super Awards. It has not been enough to save the series, however, as it has already been cancelled by Starz.
Despite the shocking Heels cancellation, showrunner Mike O’Malley has big plans for the hopeful season 3, which he shared in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. In addition to confirming his desire to shop the show to other networks, O’Malley explained that the future of the show would explore Jack’s injury in the cliffhanger season 2 finale, and what that fallout would mean for his character. See what O’Malley explained below:
Yeah, we are actively doing it right now. And some of the actors are still under contract. Obviously, the [writers’] strike just ended. I couldn’t have any conversations about this [until now], and granted, they just told me on Friday. But not only are we trying to [find a new network], I really believe the Starz executives when they say they want to see a future for the show too, because they did invest a lot in the show… I really do think it’s going to have a life someplace else. Listen, he’s going to have to deal with the aftermath of that injury. Put it this way: He’s not getting up and saying, “Oh, I just got a booboo.” Or, “I really wanted Ace to win, and that was the way I got over on Charlie Gully.” He is at that moment significantly injured. And the extent of what that injury is, we don’t know. We’re not about to go Friday Night Lights with this thing, because Stephen Amell is the star of our show, and the story is going to be about how there’s something for him to work through. In terms of where the show will go in the future, whether it goes on or not, I’m trying to write a show about people getting along and finding a way to connect. As Ace says in the last episode, he spends so much time going after things and trying to get [success], but he could have spent a little bit more time trying to cultivate kindness. I believe that there is an audience out there who wants to see characters genuinely struggle through their own humanity, and characters who are trying to connect, because it’s what people are trying to do in their own lives. And you just don’t see enough of it on television.
Can Heels Find A New Network?
Heels is not the only show to be canceled recently. Hulu cancelled How I Met Your Father, while ABC cancelled Home Economics, and HBO did the same to Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty. Amell’s show is one of the more recent cancellations, but it is one that still has hope. Despite the decision by Starz, it is always possible for O’Malley to find someone else to keep the show alive.
There is no real guarantee that Heels will find a new network. While O’Malley is determined to secure a future for the show, there is a chance that no other network chooses to pick it up. After the negative press resulting from Amell seemingly disparaging the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in July, there may be some unwillingness to draw criticism by choosing to renew the show.
One of the biggest things that could make O’Malley’s plans for a Heels season 3 come to fruition is an outpour of support from fans of the show. Warrior Nun was saved by a massive fan campaign that ran for eight months after Netflix chose not to renew the show, resulting in the ordering of a trilogy of movies. If a wrestling show can secure a similar level of support from its own fanbase, such as the billboards, letters and months of campaigning the fantasy action title saw, another network may take the chance. If Jack’s story is going to continue, Heels will need to find a studio that is willing to allow a season 3.
Source: EW
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