Neve Campbell Suffers Career Setback

Neve Campbell’s latest project has been canned.  The Scream alum’s initially-upcoming drama Avalon was canceled by ABC, despite the network ordering the show directly to series in February, according to TVLine. An exact premiere date was not announced for the series, which was originally scheduled for ABC’s 2022-23 programming slate. ABC did not give a reason for the cancellation of the series, but it may have to do with the pilot that wrapped up earlier this month. If the network was dissatisfied with what it saw, it may have decided it would be best to move on to another project. While Avalon previously received a series order, this news is not altogether unusual for a network show.

Campbell played L.A. Sheriff Department Detective Nicole “Nic” Searcy in the series based on a short story by Michael Connelly. Searcy is tasked with leading a small office on Catalina Island, a position no career-driven L.A. cop would want, but “soon discovers her valuable detective skills are needed more on Avalon than she could have imagined.” The show’s official synopsis states, “Catalina has a local population that serves more than 1 million tourists a year, and each day when the ferries arrive, hundreds of potential new stories enter the island. Detective Searcy is pulled into a career-defining mystery that will challenge everything she knows about herself and the island.”

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David E. Kelley, who was to be the series creator of Avalon, currently writes and executive produces The Lincoln Lawyer, Campbell’s other hit show. Connelly’s work also inspired that series. The Lincoln Lawyer was recently renewed for Season 2 by Netflix. Avalon was meant to be Campbell’s next step beyond her history as a horror star, especially as she won’t appear in Scream 6.  As soon as the film was announced in June, Campbell confirmed, “Sadly I won’t be making the next Scream film,” explaining that she “felt the offer that was presented to me did not equate to the value I have brought to the franchise.” She later revealed that she turned down a return to Scream 6 because of “feeling undervalued.” Her exit was supported by Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy, among other Scream stars.

In her next project, the actress is slated to star in an adaptation of the Twisted Metal series for PlayStation and Peacock. Originally announced in 2019, Michael Jordan Smith, the creator of Cobra Kai, will showrun, write, and executive produce the half-hour series based on a story by Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Anthony Mackie will serve as the star and executive producer of the series, which revolves around a loudmouthed outsider who must deliver a mysterious package across a post-apocalyptic wasteland for the promise of a better life. A trigger-happy car thief and a deranged clown driving an all-too-familiar ice cream truck will help him survive the dangerous road ahead.