In a surprising reversal, Amazon has canceled Z: The Beginning of Everything, the Christina Ricci series about Zelda Fitzgerald, sources confirmed to Vulture. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the period drama had opened a writers room and entered pre-production before Amazon decided to axe it; sources told THR that about $7 million had been spent on the second season so far. Z’s renewal was announced in April, and was surprising given the show’s lukewarm reception (Vulture’s Jen Chaney called the series “sometimes compelling, but a little too restrainedâ€).
“We heard a good pitch for season two, and based on that, we renewed the show. Anything else is speculation,†an Amazon Studios spokesperson told THR at the time. The trade also surmised then that the renewal was a product of a Vox study from March that suggested Amazon’s development process had a “sexist loophole†that only gave straight-to-series orders to men (Roy Price, vice-president of Amazon Studios, told Vulture straight-to-series orders are becoming increasingly common for the studio). Z: The Beginning of Everything was created by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, and executive produced by Ricci.