High-Profile Fox Show Put on Hold

As Fox unveiled its fall 2025 TV schedule Monday, one show was notably absent from the lineup: Accused.

The sophomore crime drama, which follows a different court case and features a new cast every episode, will not return to the network this fall as it remains one of four shows still in limbo.

Created by Jimmy McGovern and developed by Howard Gordon, Accused premiered on Fox in 2023 and returned for its second season, an eight-episode run that wrapped in December, in October 2024. Accused Season 2 aired Tuesdays at 8 p.m., a timeslot that will instead be taken over by returning freshmen series Murder In a Small Town in the upcoming fall season as Accused has been put on hold.

Fans of the show shouldn’t necessarily be concerned by the update, though. Speaking during the network’s pre-upfront press call Sunday, Michael Thorn, President of Fox Television Network, explained that because Accused is an anthology, it doesn’t operate on the same timetable for pickups shows with a regular cast. Thorn also indicated that Accused may return sometime in the future with more episodes.

“We love the show and Howard Gordon. As you know, it’s anthological, which means it doesn’t have the same timetable on renewals as shows that have locked casts,” he said, per Deadline. “And so right now, we’re talking with Howard if there’s an opportunity down the line to eventize a return, something that can really work for us and Howard, we’d love to do it. Right now, there’s no plan, but there could be down the line.”

Accused is one of four scripted Fox shows still on the bubble alongside third-year drama Alert: Missing Persons Unit, drama The Cleaning Lady, and animated comedy The Great North. The shows were the four lowest ranked scripted series on the network, with The Hollywood Reporter noting that none of them averaged higher than 1.4 million viewers for their initial airings. Of the four series, Accused is the only one to have wrapped its most recent season.

Addressing the future of the three other series, Thorn said, “We love the teams and those shows, and I think there’ll be more to come after they finish their current seasons. As you know, we order series all year round. The upfront for us is one cycle of ordering, and there will definitely be more [ordering] sometime, probably later this summer.”