EXCLUSIVE: It’s déjà vu all over again. A year after AMC cancelled The Killing after two seasons, the network has done it again following the mystery drama’s third season. There had been some encouraging signs — The Killing‘s third season opened with an OK 1.8 million viewers and drew largely positive reaction from critics and fans. But it ended with 1.5 million for the season finale, up only slightly from the 1.4 million viewers of the second-season ender, and Season 3 overall was essentially flat with Season 2, whose ratings had triggered the series’ first cancellation. “We have made the difficult decision not to move forward with a fourth season of The Killing,” AMC said in a statement to Deadline. “We want to thank our great partners at Fox Television Studios, creator Veena Sud, an extraordinary cast and the dedicated fans who watched.”
In one of the few cancellation stories with a happy ending, The Killing producer Fox TV Studios kept the show alive after its axing by AMC last year, and the network eventually reversed its decision, ordering a third season, with Netflix stepping in as exclusive subscription streaming service to help offset the cost. FTVS again is expected to explore other options for the series, but another miracle resurrection appears unlikely. The Killing, based on the Danish series Forbrydelsen, was developed for U.S. television by Sud, who returned for the show’s third season, along with stars Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman. “Fox Television Studios is extremely proud of all three seasons of The Killing,” the studio said. “We’re especially gratified to have orchestrated a unique deal with AMC for Season 3 that included a bold partnership with Netflix. While we would have loved to produce a fourth season for AMC, FTVS is immensely grateful to everyone involved with this moving series: our brilliant cast, led by Mireille Enos, Joel Kinnaman and Season 3’s Peter Sarsgaard; our stellar executive producer, Veena Sud; a remarkable writing and producing team; and a tireless, dedicated crew. Most of all, FTVS thanks the terrific fans of The Killing, who communicated their appreciation for the show throughout its run.”
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Season 3 was the best season so far, and I was really looking forward to season 4. This is just a shame.
Who killed Rosie Larsen?
A) Apathy among TV audiences.
B) Lame first season.
C) AMC.
D) Veena Sud.
E) All of the above.
Veena should be running The Bridge. That show lacks all of the qualities that made The Killing interesting.
So… nothing?
I am a first-time viewer, having watched season three. It was appointment TV for me. I thought season three was very well done and better than 80 percent of what’s on TV. Is it really less expensive for a network to find a replacement, build a brand new marketing campaign and still hope for the best vs. investing confidence in a proven show that maybe just needs a little more marketing muscle and smarter scheduling behind it? Very sad to see it go. I hope it is picked up elsewhere. I will follow.
NO!!!!! Loved The Killing, good show, excellent stories, fantastic actors…….. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is very wrong.
Why, why, why would AMC cancel “the Killing”, I love it. Oh please, Netflix….. pick-up season 4. It is just the best show ever!
The 3rdd season of “The Killing” was great – love Joel Kinnaman and Mirielle Enos. They had great chemistry. Hope someone else will pick it up. Too bad.
This was writing and acting at it’s very best. So what might be the possibility of another more appreciative network picking this up?
Kinneman and Enos were both exceptional actors with layer upon layer of depth and void so palpable you could feel it. Disappointment and heartbreak will reign Sundays at 9 for me. Veena Sud understood the underbelly of human depravity like few other writers for any medium. Of course when the awards are given out and the Killing does well we will all sit watching the real first hand killing of the “The Killing”. What a freaking mistake for what…ratings? Get a clue-this is an art form, people!
Sick to my stomach.
The Killing was one of, if not the best shows on t.v.; excellent and intriguing acting, character development, and writing. These are not easily achieved and should not simply be discarded. Most finer artistic achievements take a while for the larger public to appreciate. There should be room for creativity on t.v. that isn’t always about ratings. If Netflix supports a fourth season of The Killing, I will definitely sign up for it!
Are you fucking stupid? Breaking Bad is the best show on TV.
breaking bad writers had the son call 911 on his dad and tell them he attacked his mom with a knife after his mom sliced his dad’s hand. that’s not what the kid would do in that situation. zero percent. i ran a simulation. epagogix picked up that flaw too. Breaking bad is awesome, but there are many inconsistencies. The Killing has fewer inconsistencies.
AMC is stupid!
The Killing, I’ve watched every season. I hate it when great shows get canceled! AMC-Breaking Bad, The Killing, Walking Dead, Low Winter Sun. All great shows. Come on AMC give us back The Killing!
Seriously, if The Killing and Veena Sud was doing its/her job, it wouldn’t have been cancelled. It was time. It was a waste of that excellent acting talent. I hope they both can recover from this.
I remember when it very first started advertising for S1. I thought it was going to be a fantastic show and was so excited. Then by the fourth episode I was thinking, “WTF are you doing.” The lame red herrings over and over just killed it. My mid season on S1, I couldn’t care less who killed Rosie Larsen. I found out who did it by running across some comment early in S3. Oh, it was the aunt – and by accident? So fuckin lame.
Glad it’s gone. Hope those two actors keep getting work. /Spank to AMC for letting that charade go on for as long as it did. Your viewers spoke mid way thru S1, you should have listened.
I really enjoyed the first two seasons of this show on Netflix and was waiting for season 3 to become available online so I could binge watch it. Sad to see it go, but happy to see that Joel Kinnaman’s career is taking off with the Robocop reboot. He was easily the best part of the show.
They killed this show the day they decided to milk the first season’s worth of writing and turn it into two. Good riddance.
That “day” was the day the whole show was conceived. AMC was told in the pitch that the Rosie Larsen case would cover TWO full seasons of 13 episodes. In the Danish show the Larsen case was covered in 20 episodes 58 minutes in length without commercials. That story was NEVER going to be reduced to an American cable season of 13 42-minute episodes.
That very well may be, but the series was sold to the public as “a case a season”. THAT was why everyone (rightfully) threw a fit.
So what? The structure doesn’t work unless they can tell a full story within the confines of one season. Everyone involved should have understood how the audience would react. Are they in the TV biz or do they shine shoes for a living? Maybe they should do the latter from now on. Good riddance, I’m glad I bailed on that boring snoozefest early on. One less cop show on TV is hardly a tragedy.
Well the difference that Veena Sud defenders don’t see is that it may be ok for Danish show to put 20 episodes for one case. Maybe actors were better, maybe storyline was more interesting, maybe viewers in Europe reacted to it better. But you know there are no 100 tv shows in Demnark every year. There is no such competition. They may shoot their big tv show for 20 episodes for 1 case. But in USA there are 40 other interesting crime shows that people can watch instead. And so they did.
They were already bored with bad and lame characters in the middle of the first season. But waited to the end to find out who the killer is and move on to another case. That did not happened. So they just left.
The problem wasn’t having 20 episodes covering one case, the problem was splitting it up into two seasons with a year in between, and then piling their awful promotions on top of it. Had they made it clear from the start that it wouldn’t have been wrapped up by the end of the first season, it would have been fine for most viewers. Their promotions made it seem like there would be closure to who killed Rosie Larson by the end of the first season. In fact it never should have been about who killed Rosie Larson, it should have been promoted as the affect the killing had on the family and other people involved.
20+ episode story arcs work just fine in the US when they are handled properly. They could have even spent 5 seasons on one case if they had promoted it right.
I agree that the show runners seriously misjudged their audience during the Rosie Larsen arc of the series. But personally, what irritated me the most was the unfocused, sensationalistic way that case unfolded: enough red herrings to clog up the New England coast, and so many plot twists that I still feel queasy just thinking about it.
As proven by the tight, focused, and (in my opinion) stellar writing of Season 3, there is more than enough drama, tragedy, and heartbreaking poignancy to be mined from just a single loss of life — IF the story is set up properly. Throwing in hookers, the mafia, political intrigue, social commentary, and everything else but the kitchen sink just muddled — and needlessly lengthened — what could have been a quiet, shattering story about the aftermath of Rosie’s death. To me, it felt like the writers just didn’t trust their American audience with the subtleties of such storytelling. And boy, did they misjudge and enrage that audience. A true shame — I thought Season 3 was phenomenal.
They weren’t even good plot twists! That’s what was so lame! They thought their audience was stupid!
You do realize that if you combine the number of episodes of seasons 1 & 2 of the American version, you still have less episodes than the 1 and only season of the Danish version, which featured a similar storyline, right?
I am so tired of reading this same diatribe. Lots of show do the cliffhanger. why is this show held to the higher standard. this is a sad thing. with so much crap on TV, surely this show was good enough for anothe season.
Oh poor thing…you had to wait to get an end to the first season. That’s the problem with the audience-they need instant gratification. A bunch of whiners.
You people who think we hated it since S1 because of having to wait to find out about who killed Rosie are wrong…and stupid. It wasn’t that we had to wait to find out – it was that their writers couldn’t weave a good enough story to sustain the plot over the course of several episodes so they filled it with red herring after another – it was just dumb and boring.
Really sad to see it go. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, even the first two seasons. However, I do agree that season three was the strongest of them. The character dynamics are amazing, the cinematography is so incredible. Just a brilliant show and I really hope Netflix picks it up.
The BRIDGE is everything The KILLING wished it was. NEXT
Glad we’re not dating/watching TV together. The Bridge is terrible, The Killing – while flawed – was a very compelling show.
The Killing is one of the very best shows EVER: compelling, thoroughly engrossing, unpredictable, GREAT actors and character development, excellent writing, etc. The Bridge comes close but only close. I hope a deal can be worked out to continue to produce this show….it’s too good to lose.
Agreed.
Second that.
I agree too, first thing I said when I finished watching The Bridge was I liked it more than The Killing. Still, the third season of The Killing was pretty good.
This just proves that Americans don’t have good taste in television (that and the fact that NCIS is somehow a popular programme in America). The US remake of The Bridge is goddamn awful compared to Broen and even the trailer for Tunnel (the British/French remake) and the significant drop in ratings proves that, whereas The Killing is just as good as Forbrydelsen and gets similar ratings to other AMC shows that aren’t Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead.
Certainly a shame. Season three made for incredible, riveting television. Hopefully everyone will move onto bigger and better projects in the near future.
I am upset! My favorite show! I don’t watch TV very often. I started watching the first season on netflix, couldn’t get enough!! I watched the the first and second seasons within a matter of 2days! Really loved season three, Sunday became my favorite night. I am hoping for another miracle!
I haven’t got round to seeing season 3 but for what I hear they managed to tell a concise, gripping mystery with an actual ending in the space of one season. I guess it’s good that they get to go out having achieved what the bloated rosie larson case never could.
Come on! This was a great show with great characters. This season had some of the best acting I’ve seen in ages. The execution episode!? Come on, that was incredible!
I hope like hell it finds another home ! It’s one of the few I buy the season pass on Apple TV for immediately.
If anyone involved with the show reads these comments, thanks for making it awesome!
agreed!
I hope Netflix does the right thing here and picks this up and puts Season 4 under its banner. The show could greatly benefit as it wouldnt have to cater to network sensors. A darker, edgier version of the show was most certainly expand the appeal of the show to fans and newbies alike. Kinnaman, Enos, and their characters are just too good together to let this show go to waste.
John betting you like driving past car accidents and seeing wagloom in the world. No one forces you tWo watch any TV show.
They keep talking about the Bold Deal with Netflix but season 3 came and went and no episodes appeared on Netflix.
lame
They better cancel both Hell on Wheels and Low Winter Sun to even the score. No way this significantly better written show gets the boot and those other two atrocious shows get to stay on the air.
Hell On Wheels is a lot better The Killing, and I LIKED The Killing. And don’t be silly talking about “evening the score.” AMC wants a certain number of dramas for 2014. They already ordered a series called called Halt and Catch Fire and another titled Turn for 2014. Breaking Bad was never coming back, and now with The Killing cancelled, that is two series subtracted to “even” things out with two new shows starting.
Hell on Wheels is mediocre but being a Western at least it’s different. TV is glutted with cop shows. I’d rather see AMC use the timeslot to try any other genre.
Were you actually watching The Killing. Do you understand character and plot development? Can you tell regular writing from authentic creative writing? For those who like NCIS there is nothing that can be said-you will never understand how difficult it is to write, produce and act in what seems so flawlessly done. I think The Killing is superb theater.
The Killing is superb theater? I must ask you, then, do YOU understand plot development? haha
Red Herrings x 100 does not equate to plot development.
The two cops were great – everything else sucked. AMC knows it and that’s why it’s gone.
The deal with Netflix was about European rights. Netflix was only ever going to season 3 in the US after AMC finished the season.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix decided against contributing towards a fourth season, making the show unviable for AMC.
I absolutely loved the Killing..the grey, eerie, rainy backdrop for this series kept me spellbound. The acting was superb, storylines were great, it was a real mystery show. BRING IT BACK !! There is so much garbage on T V , get out there and advertise this show or whatever…but keep it going !!
This was very unexpectedly my favorite television show of this past year. Season 3 was above and beyond better than the previous two. At least it went out on top. Maybe AMC didn’t want TWO shows about police in depressing, morally corrupt situations….
That’s too bad. That would have worked.
They always take away the shows I love!
Such a disappointment! Why! Why? Why 
this was an amazing season with a stellar cast.amc really blew it.and yet freakshow and pitch limp on.
No! I flew through all 3 seasons once I found this show. Stellar acting and show all around. Truly hope this gets picked up by another network!
I was so happy in Season 3 of The Killing when that annoying girl with the mohawk (already forgot her name) was killed off-her acting was so annoying and obnoxious actually most of the teen acting was atrocious. This is why I watch British TV the acting and production value is subtle and brilliant. Can we say Broadchurch!
Yes, it’s a shame that an American actress playing a Seattle street kid couldn’t master a British accent the way British actors playing British characters could and do while living a refined British life in a Howards End-type estate *eye roll*
You were happy when a child was murdered? What kind of sick f&*% are you?
The kind that realizes a REAL child wasn’t murdered, but rather an irritating character.
the drama of this show being resurrected and re-murdered again is far more interesting than the show ever was. i can’t wait for season 4 where it gets picked up by TBS, then Hulu/Netflix for season 5 and after that they could realize a season 6 in a series of bus ads! ooh, i can’t wait!!!
AMC rarely makes good decisions, having canceled some of the best-written television shows in history.
Shows being axed because of low ratings. Average viewer don’t understand or care about quality of writing.
I am extremely sad. I loved the first and second season and I am looking forward to Netflix releasing the third. I really expected this show to last longer. We don’t get good mystery crime shows with such a compelling story anymore. Please make Netflix pick up the tab and make a fourth (although I hope it won’t follow the footsteps of Netflix’s Arrested Development)
You mean that we will never get see the fallout from the last scene !!!!!!!
Would Holder arrest Linden and turn her in ????? Would he cover it up ? Would Linden completely melt down???
Totally bummed that I will never know how this turns out for these very complex deeply flawed characters.
The relationship between these two was so interesting and unexpected.
The writing was terrific.
Maybe a 2 hour movie to tie up the very dramatic closing event PLEASE.
The Killing was the best show on TV. Sad if its gone but I’m hoping Netflix step in.
Really sorry to hear that The Tilling has been cancelled. One of the best shows on television, with outstanding writing, performances and that all-important extra, cast chemistry. I hope someone picks the up for a 4th season. Are you listening, Netflix?