EXCLUSIVE: ABC has opted not to proceed with a third season of The Wonder Years. The news comes a month after the reboot of the classic coming-of-age comedy wrapped its Season 2 run on the network.
Originally slated for a midseason return, The Wonder Years‘ second season was pushed to summer, hinting at the show’s potential fate as summer has traditionally been used as a destination for broadcast scripted series that have either been canceled or are likely to be.
The Wonder Years ranks as the lowest-rated and least watched ABC series this summer, behind the network’s unscripted slate. It also would rank last among ABC’s series that aired during the 2022-23 season.
There are no renewal decisions on ABC bubble series The Rookie: Feds and Home Economics and a pickup one on The Good Lawyer pilot. As Deadline reported last month, their fates remain in limbo amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and the longer the work stoppages go, the longer the shows’ odds of survival become.
Inspired by the 1988 series of the same name, The Wonder Years that tells the story of the Williams family during the late 1960s. The series is narrated through the point of view of imaginative 12-year-old Dean, as he navigates growing up in a Black middle-class family in Montgomery, Alabama, and the friendship, laughter, and lessons learned along the way.
The Wonder Years stars Don Cheadle, narrating the series as adult Dean Williams, Elisha “EJ” Williams as Dean Williams, Dulé Hill as Bill Williams, Saycon Sengbloh as Lillian Williams, Laura Kariuki as Kim Williams, Julian Lerner as Brad Hitman, Amari O’Neil as Cory Long and Milan Ray as Keisa Clemmons.
Lee Daniels, Saladin K. Patterson, Marc Velez, and Bob Daily executive produce the series, produced by 20th Television, a part of Disney Television Studios.
The original series’ star Fred Savage served as an executive producer and director for the first season before he was fired following an investigation into misconduct allegations.