King Shaka, the drama series executive produced by Antoine Fuqua, is not going forward with Showtime.

This continues a trend of television shows getting canceled before they’ve even aired, as Deadline reports. We saw several series go through this with Showtime and, by some extension, HBO Max. The latter of the two canceled beloved series that catered to young, diverse viewers.

As Deadline reports, King Shaka was let go because of a “programming overhaul” within the Showtime network due to its upcoming merger with Paramount+. CBS Studios is planning on shopping the project, which filmed a full season, to other networks. Showtime has been reported as helping King Shaka find a home elsewhere.

The series, with Charles Babalola as showrunner, filmed in the legendary ruler’s birthplace, South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. The series was shut down with 12 shooting days left, but it did manage to finish most of the filming.

Even though King Shaka was let go by Showtime, the network has still stated that “culturally diverse” series are a main part of their three-pronged approach to storytelling, with the first two being “complex characters and subversive antiheroes” and “high-stakes powerful worlds.”

King Shaka

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