NBC will take one final trip to a pre-historic Los Angeles. The network’s sci-fi drama La Brea has officially been canceled following months of speculation. NBC confirmed Monday, per Deadline, that the series will conclude with a shortened third and final season, with Season 3 set to run just six episodes. For comparison, the debut season ran for 10 episodes, with the show’s two-part second season consisting of 14 episodes.
Created by David Appelbaum, La Brea debuted on NBC in fall 2021. The series begins in 2020 when a massive sinkhole opens in Los Angeles, near the La Brea Tar Pits and Wilshire Boulevard, swallowing a group of Los Angelinos and trapping them in a mysterious and dangerous primeval land where they must band together to survive. The series stars Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Jon Seda, Nicholas Gonzalez, Chiké Okonkwo, Zyra Gorecki, Jack Martin, Veronica St. Clair, Rohan Mirchandaney, Lily Santiago, Josh McKenzie, Tonantzin Carmelo, and Michelle Vergara Moore.
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La Brea‘s time at NBC has been anything but easy. The series’ 2020 pilot was derailed by the pandemic. However, the show still managed to receive a straight-to-series order, and although La Brea had some early success, even nabbing a 14-episode Season 2 order, it ultimately failed to gain much traction. Its sophomore season averaged 4.8 million total viewers and a 0.5 demo rating, per TVLine, making La Brea ninth out of NBC’s 11 drama’s both in audience and demo. The series was also certified rotten by both critics and the audience on Rotten Tomatoes, earning scores of just 29% and 44%, respectively. Shortly after the show was renewed for a third season, now known to be its last, in January of this year, reports surfaced that Season 3 could be La Brea‘s last. Deadline reported in later that month that the network’s decision to only hand the show a six-episode season renewal was largely influenced by the then-impending WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The outlet also reported that the cast was released from their contracts so they’d be open to take other jobs.
La Brea is executive produced by Appelbaum, Avi Nir, Alon Shtruzman, Peter Traugott, Rachel Kaplan, Chris Hollier, Adam Davidson, Bryan Wynbrandt, Steven Lilien, Ken Woodruff, and Arika Lisanne Mittman. The series is produced by Universal Television and Australia’s Matchbox Pictures, both divisions of Universal Studio Group, in association with Keshet Studios.
After shooting the first two seasons in Victoria, Australia, production for Season 3 moved to Queensland, Variety reported in May. Plot details for the season have not yet been released. La Brea Season 3 is scheduled to premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
