Hulu Scraps Upcoming TV Show ‘Downforce’

Hulu has one less comedy on its plate. The streamer has opted not to move forward with its car racing comedy Downforce, Deadline reported Monday. The scrapped series had been greenlit for a pilot order in May, and was set to be led by Eve Hewson and Murray Bartlett.

It’s unclear why the series has been scrapped. However, the pilot had been created by ABC Signature Studios, which was merged into 20th Television late last year. Amid a stage of restructuring, ABC and Hulu merged their drama and comedy teams, and Suzanna Makkos took over as Head of Comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals.

Written by Alec Berg and Adam Countee, Downforce was set to star Hewson as Victoria, the estranged daughter of a storied racing team’s owner. A character description called Victoria “a shrewd and ruthless investment banker who finds her way back into the front office. She knows business, he knows racing, and together they have to figure out the business of racing after years apart.” Bartlett was set to portray the team’s “larger-than-life founder and owner,” Sir Trevor.

The show’s official synopsis read, “When the heiress to a dynastic racing team is thrust back into the family business, she needs to make some hard choices about the future of the team and her family’s legacy.”

The pilot cast also featured Harry Delano (Freud’s Last Session) as engineering genius Cayley, Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) as Regent Racing’s fastidious chief race engineer Alastair, Amar Chadha-Patel (The Decameron) as Team Regent chief mechanic Ihsan, and Arturo Del Puerto (For All Mankind) as Emiliano, the owner of a competing team who’s hellbent on destroying Regent Racing.

In addition to co-writing the pilot, Berg and Countee were also set to executive produce alongside Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey for Temple Hill, Daniel Ricciardo, Amy Solomon, and Lionsgate. Berg was also attached as director of the pilot episode.

Hulu has not commented on reports that Downforce has been scrapped. The streamer’s other comedy pilot, Phony, is currently still moving forward as planned. Written, directed and executive produced by Nick Paley, the coming-of-age mystery is set to center around Sonny, who wakes up in the hospital after a car accident to discover his mom appears to have been replaced by an impostor. Connie Britton is set to star as Ellen, Sonny’s mother and the principal of his high school.