HBO Cancels Acclaimed Comedy Series After 2 Seasons

HBO canceled Los Espookys late last week, following two critically acclaimed seasons. The show focused on a group of horror film-loving friends who try to use their familiarity with scary movies for a unique business idea. Saturday Night Live alum Fred Armisen created the series with Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega.

The show is coming to an end as Torres, a former Saturday Night Live writer, begins work on new projects, notes Deadline. Back in February, he began working on the comedy Little Films and the coming-of-self series Lucky. Both projects are being developed under Torres’ first-look deal with HBO. Torres will also star in Little Films.

Los Espookys starred Bernardo Velasco, Torres, and Cassandra Ciangherotti as friends who decide to turn their love of horror movies into a business opportunity in the fictional Latin American country where they live. They provide horror for customers who want it and trick people into thinking the horror0inspired situations are real. Armisen, Fabrega, Carol Kane, and Jose Pablo Minor also star in the series. Season 2 featured appearances from Yalitiza Aparicio, Kim Petra,s Isabella Rossellini, and Martine Gutierrez. Only 12 episodes were produced, and the series remains available to stream on HBO Max.

“We are thrilled we could deliver the unique and hilarious second season of Los Espookys to viewers finally, more than three years after the series premiere, due to pandemic delays,” HBO said in a statement on Dec. 2. “We thank Julio, Ana, and Fred for this imaginative and delightfully bizarre world they created. We are not currently planning on a third season, but we would welcome the opportunity to work with this cast and crew in the future.”

Los Espookys Season 1 debuted in 2019 with 272,000 viewers, according to Nielsen live+save day data. The show’s first season averaged around 156,000 live viewers. The show was put on hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic and finally returned for a second season in September. The live audience was halved, with the ratings for the last three episodes unreported by Nielsen because it failed to reach the Top 150 most-watched telecasts for the Fridays they aired. HBO may have also doomed the show by moving it to an 11 p.m. ET timeslot.

Although Los Espookys struggled to attract audiences, those that did watch the show loved it. The show holds a 100% fresh rating from critics and a 71% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. “The show was singular in the stories it told and the ways it told them – actively undermining every Hollywood trope about Latinos,” Carolina A. Miranda wrote in a tribute to the show for The Los Angeles Times. “Instead of hackneyed plots about gangbangers and maids, Los Espookys delivered tales inspired by the Latin American passion for the paranormal – and it did it with panache.”