Released in July, “Ride or Die” attracted high viewership and rave reviews, earning a near-perfect score of 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes for a high-octane, female-led action-comedy about a woman (Octavia Spencer) who discovers her best friend (Hannah Waddingham) has a double life as an international assassin.
When the show was canceled after its first hit season by streamer Prime Video, the big question was why?
Octavia Spencer Speaks Out
Two days after the shocking cancelation, Spencer took to Instagram to share her thoughts on Prime Video axing the show.
“Apparently, THIS was the best weekend for me to get sick because, well, distractions!” the Oscar winner wrote in an Instagram post, accompanying a screen shot of an article about the show’s cancellation.
“I hope every creative out there gets to have the incredible experience that I’ve had bringing this project to life with the unwavering support from Skydance/Paramount these past three years,” she continued.
“Projects like this shouldn’t be the exception, they should be rule!” she added. “For all the women out there who felt seen, laughed out loud, lived out loud with Debbie and Judith, thank you. This was a fun one!”
More ‘Ride or Die’ to Come?
In Deadline‘s report of the series’ surprise cancelation, the outlet pointed out that “Ride or Die” shot to the No. 1 spot in Prime Video viewership — while the Season 1 storyline left plenty of room for a second season to pick up where that left off.
While a reason was not given for the show’s cancelation, Deadline claimed it was because the show’s viewership, while strong, was primarily catering to middle-aged females — a demographic supposedly of little interest to the streamer.
The series’ stars and producers were reportedly blindsided by the news. Meanwhile, the series’ studio, Paramount, has started to shop the series around to other potential platforms.
So far, there have been no takers, but fans of the show are hopeful that “Ride or Die” could return with a second season on another streaming service or TV network.
Some Serious Stunts
Amazon MGM StudiosIf the series does return for a second season, star Waddingham will continue to further her education in action-movie stunt work.
“Don’t even get me started. It was incredibly demanding on my body,” Waddingham told People of the various stunts she performed for “Ride or Die.”
“I kind of shot myself in the foot because you can’t enter a role like this and not get involved. Well, you can, but I wanted people to see that it was me,” she said, explaining why she declined to use a stunt double.
As she explained, the stunts added an extra layer of preparation that she hadn’t really experienced in her career up to that point.
“I’d spend a week learning the choreography of a fight sequence, perform it, completely mangled myself, think, ‘What are you doing? You’re 51, woman!’ And then the next day I’d be back learning the next fight,” she recalled.
“I was saying, ‘Guys, next time I agree to something this physical, can you just remind me how exhausting it is?’” Waddingham joked.
