Looks like you’ve seen the last of former Green Beret Bryan Mills running around punching goons and muttering things about special sets of skills—on the small screen, at least. Who knows if someday Liam Neeson will decide it’d be fun if, say, his character’s third cousin twice removed was Taken Yet Again?
But regardless of any further feature films, NBC has canceled its TV adaptation of the popular movie franchise. Taken will no longer appear on the network, though the series is currently being shopped to other potential homes, much as a kidnapped American teen could be sold on the international black market for a handsome profit. Variety reports the show’s “strong international brand recognition” is the reason for trying to find it another host, though no word on whether that brand recognition includes “a fondness for swapping out beloved actor Liam Neeson for the guy from Vikings.”
While the show already seemed to be on the chopping block, as NBC moved it from Fridays to Saturdays back in April, it was also already headed for a second season. Following the earlier renewal announcement, the network replaced departing showrunner Alexander Cary with Greg Plageman. But in a strong case of “jump this sinking ship,” Variety adds that “Shortly thereafter, cast members Gaius Charles, Brooklyn Sudano, Monique Gabriela Curnen, Michael Irby, Jose Pablo Cantillo, and James Landry Hébertwill also left the series as Plageman began implementing a new vision for its second season.” Plageman’s vision, much like so many helpless family members whose CIA-backed divorced husbands and dads are no longer around to save them, has been taken from us.