HBO’s Lovecraft Country Was Canceled Due To Claims of A ‘Toxic’ Work Environment

Despite positive reviews and snagging Emmy nominations, HBO’s hit series, Lovecraft Country, was unexpectedly canceled by the network and will not be renewed for a second season. c

Investigative reporter James Andrew Miller revealed in his new book, Tinderbox: HBO’s Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers, Green was the main reason why Lovecraft Country was canceled after one season. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Miller discussed his new book and uncovered details about Green creating a “toxic” and “hostile” work environment:

Lovecraft was a beautiful show in terms of its look, its narrative and what I would also consider to be an exceptional marriage of storytelling and music. When the show got canceled, there were two predominant explanations out there. One was it had gotten too expensive. The second was there wasn’t a compelling vision for the next season. It turns out neither was the real reason. I had several sources within HBO and elsewhere — people who worked on the show and people who represented people on the show — who said the environment on the show was not a healthy one. For HBO, it was a double-down on sadness — not only is it losing a show that was such an outlier in terms of what it was trying to say, but then to have a Black showrunner — and a female Black showrunner — is not something that happens every day, and people were incredibly excited about that. So, again, the word I come back to is “sadness” that it was not able to continue. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Green declined to comment after claims of toxicity and work environment issues had surfaced in Tinderbox, all of which the showrunner allegedly created. Regardless of the allegations against her, Green continued to work with HBO. She inked a deal to write a solo 

Black Canary film for HBO Max featuring Jurnee Smollet’s version of the character from Birds of Prey. The actress also starred in Lovecraft Country, making the toxic work environment allegations even more unusual.

According to UPROXX, one of the reasons why the series was canceled is that the show had already exhausted all of the storylines from the book. Showrunner Misha Green said she had plans to renew for a second season. However, the network decided to cancel the series due to the show’s lack of new material and other undisclosed reasons.