Fox Country Drama ‘Monarch’ Canceled After One Season

Fox’s first-year series Monarch is finished. The network canceled the family drama set in the world of country music after a single season. The show’s season — now series — finale aired Tuesday night (Dec. 6).

Monarch had initially been slated to premiere in January 2022 with the NFL’s NFC championship game as its lead-in. A few weeks before its debut, however, Fox pulled the show from that spot and moved it to the fall, citing pandemic-related concerns that production might be interrupted.

It premiered following an NFL telecast Sept. 11 and pulled in decent ratings but was unable to keep that audience once it moved to its regular time period on Tuesday nights. Monarch was designed to have a shorter run than shows like 911 or its lead-in The Resident, but it was also Fox’s first fully owned scripted series since the network split from former sibling studio 20th Television when Disney acquired 21st Century Fox in 2019.

Fox positioned the show as its big bet for the fall — it was the only rookie series on the schedule — but it didn’t get the audience it needed to justify a renewal. The series averaged 4.1 million viewers across all platforms and a scant 0.3 rating in the key ad sales demographic of adults 18-49.

Created by Melissa London Hilfers, Monarch stars Anna Friel, country singer Trace Adkins, Joshua Sasse, Beth Ditto, Meagan Holder and Susan Sarandon — whose character died in the show’s pilot but appeared in flashback scenes in several more episodes.

Hilfers executive produces with showrunner Jon Harmon Feldman, Gail Berman and Hend Baghdady of The Jackal Group, Michael Rauch and Jason Owen. Monarch is the second first-year network show of the fall to be axed. CBS pulled the plug on its dating show The Real Love Boat in October, with the remainder of its season shifting to Paramount+.

Deadline first reported Monarch’s cancellation.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.