Major Game Show’s Season Premiere Quietly Scrapped

The Cube Season 2 was slated to premiere last week, but it didn’t. TBS announced on Dec. 5 that the show would premiere on Jan. 8, but instead, a sitcom re-run aired that night without any explanation. Now, the trailer has been made private on YouTube, and the website simply says the next installment of the game show is “coming soon.”

According to BuzzerBlog, the time slot for The Cube Season 2 was changed just over two weeks after the announcement was made. Instead, viewers saw a re-run of The Big Bang Theory that night. The Cube was made for TBS, and of course TBS’ parent company has been through a lot of changes this year as it merged into Warner Bros. Discovery. That included some considerable layoffs at TBS, TNT and TruTV – its cable channels. However, there had been no announcement of an official cancellation for The Cube, and eventually, Warner Bros. Discovery explained the last-minute change to reporters from Reality Blurred.

A company rep said that TBS, TNT and TruTV “have made some scheduling adjustments to [their] January 2023 programming slate and The Cube is no longer premiering in January.” They said there will be “a new date” at some point, but there was no indication of when.

The Cube premiered in June of 2021 with host Dwayne Wade. It has aired just one season so far, but clearly, there is hope for more. The show challenges contestants to both physical and mental tasks that strain their “skill, nerve and determination.” Each of these challenges is contained in a large transparent cube on the stage.

The Cube was originally a British game show, but it has now been adapted for countries around the world. The first version premiered in 2009 on ITV, with host Philip Shofield. The show put an emphasis on the pressure contestants feel from the live audience, the stage lights and the confines of the cube itself. Before long, even mundane tasks take on a stressful air.

The first attempt to adapt The Cube in the U.S. actually came in 2010, but it was rejected at the pilot stage. That version was hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, and it would have aired on CBS. It had double the cash prize of the current version at half a million dollars. The TBS version of the show only pays $250,000 for the biggest jackpot.

The Cube Season 2 has apparently been filmed already, but there is no word on when or where it will premiere. You can stream Season 1 on the TBS website or the TBS app with a valid cable log-in. The show is also streaming on HBO Max.