What led to the cancellation of popular cop drama ‘Lethal Weapon’ on Fox? Was it due to the falling ratings? Let’s know more about the real reason.
Fox‘s ‘Lethal Weapon’ is an American drama series that has been created by Matt Miller and Shane Black. The television series is inspired by the original 1987-1998 film of the same name. ‘Lethal Weapon‘ premiered on September 21st, 2016. The show followed around a Texas cop and former Navy SEAL Martin Riggs (Clayne Crawford). After the loss of his wife, Miranda Riggs, and his unborn baby, Riggs moved to Los Angeles to start afresh. But due to many shocking incidents on set, ‘Lethal Weapon’ came to an end in 2019, after three seasons.
HIGHLIGHTS —
- The real reason why ‘Lethal Weapon’ was axed
- Clayne Crawford fired from ‘Lethal Weapon’
- When Keesha sharp got to know about ‘Lethal Weapon’ getting axed
Apart from the ratings, ‘Lethal Weapon’ was prominently plagued with real drama. In May 2018, Clayne Crawford was fired after two seasons. Deadline reported that Crawford had a history of bad behaviour on the set.
The real reason why ‘Lethal Weapon’ was axed
In 2019, the popular fiction show ‘Lethal Weapon‘ was abruptly cancelled. The series ended its run after three seasons. Fox’s CEO Charlie Collier confessed to “Deadline” about the series of tough choices they had to make this time. “In the quest to be number one, you have to make tough choices, and ‘Lethal Weapon’ was unfortunately on the other side (of the bubble)”, said Collier.
However, there was much more to it. One of the most eminent reasons behind ‘Lethal Weapon’ being cancelled was its decreasing ratings. During its first season, ‘Lethal Weapon’ had a viewership of around 6.5 million. But the ratings dropped to 4 million in season 2, and further down to just 3 million in season 3. Even though the third season numbers weren’t troubling, they showed a significant drop that was proving worrisome for the network.
Variety also mentioned that the production of ‘Lethal Weapon’ had to be stopped at many occasions leading to splitting the crew into factions. The security guards were on set at all times to make sure that no physical altercation broke on the sets.
Clayne Crawford fired from ‘Lethal Weapon’
Apart from the ratings, ‘Lethal Weapon’ was prominently plagued with real drama. In May 2018, Clayne Crawford was fired after two seasons. “Deadline” reported that Crawford had a history of bad behaviour on the set. He had also been disciplined several times over complaints of abusive behaviour and enabling a hostile environment. On numerous occasions, Crawford was also seen abusing the crew members and also showed signs of outrage. It had escalated to a point that his fellow actors and the crew on ‘Lethal Weapon’ started feeling uncomfortable with him around the set. During an incident, Crawford allegedly mishandled a stunt man in an episode he was directing with Waynes.
“Variety” reported about speaking to 31 people anonymously. It was regarding the problems that ‘Lethal Weapon’ was being plagued with behind the scenes. It succeeded in obtaining two separate recordings that featured Crawford and his former co-star Damon Wayans involved in a verbal abuse brawl. The other recording again had Crawford losing his temper off-camera. He was also forcefully made to attend anger management classes.
“Variety” also mentioned that the production of ‘Lethal Weapon’ had to be stopped at many occasions leading to splitting the crew into factions. The security guards were on set at all times to make sure that no physical altercation broke on the sets. Despite all the efforts, Crawford was fired. His on-screen character Riggs was killed by his half-brother Garrett in a graveyard. His exit soon saw a new character’s entry. Seann William Scott was hired for the role of ex-CIA agent Wesley Cole in season 3.
When Keesha sharp got to know about ‘Lethal Weapon’ getting axed
Actor Keesha Sharp told “Digital Spy” that after the firing, ‘Lethal Weapon’ was cancelled by Fox. The makers felt it was not worth the effort.
“The show was cancelled. I got a phone call. The show was cancelled after they were going to release him for reasons that they felt were justified in terms of behaviour they did not want to continue to deal with.”
“And so, for them to make that decision, it wasn’t easy. We had a number-one show, and it was hard for the ‘Lethal Weapon’ family to deal with it, and especially not wanting to talk about it in public and hurt anybody.”
It should also be kept in mind that during that time Fox was more in favour of unscripted shows and live shows as compared to scripted shows. It also gave two of its weekdays to football and WWE.
Were you content with how ‘Lethal Weapon’ ended? Let us know in the comments section below.
