Disney+ Has Mainly Avoided Cancelling Shows. Until Now

Disney+ has released a flood of original series since it launched two years ago. Some of those series, like The Mandalorian, have received orders for multiple seasons. Other series like most of the current Marvel projects, may have only ever been designed to be a single season project. One thing Disney+ hasn't had to do much is cancel shows, but it appears it has now done that for the second time as Turner & Hooch has reportedly been canned, according to co-star Reginald VelJohnson. 

VelJohnson, who reprised his role from the original Turner & Hooch movie with Tom Hanks for the Disney+ original series sequel, recently spoke with ComicBook.com, where he revealed that Disney+ has decided not to move forward with the series. This is only the second time, following NatGeo’s The Right Stuff, that a show that was expected to continue (or at least had no reason not to continue) has not. Though VelJohnson says there is possible hope for this one. He explains... 

Well, as far as I know, they're trying to sell it to another network or something like that. That's what I heard. But as of now, it's not going to be picked up, I don't think. It was fun to do. And working with the actors was great fun and I hope so, whatever they decided to do I'm with it. It's okay. I enjoy doing the sequel and, hopefully, we'll have some time to do it again. But if not, I was glad for the experience.

Cancelling shows is certainly nothing unexpected, even for streaming platforms. Netflix seems to do it once a week, and with popular shows. But with Disney+ actual cancellation is rarely a thing. 

Many of the series that have been born on the streaming service from The Mandalorian to The World According to Jeff Goldblum to Diary of a Future President have seen second seasons. Other series, like the Marvel Studios’ projects WandaVision, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, have not been given new seasons, but as part of the larger storytelling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it doesn’t seem there was ever a plan for them to have additional seasons. They told their stories and moved on. 

There is still hope for the Turner & Hooch series, apparently, as Reginald VelJohnson says that Disney is looking at getting the show picked up elsewhere. Although, that seems like an odd situation. 

While we’ve certainly seen shows jump networks and make the leap from broadcast to streaming, seeing a show that was made by Disney, that Disney owns the rights to, making the jump to another streamer seems like a long shot. Would the first season leave Disney+ along with the show if it went elsewhere? Would fans need to subscribe to two different services to be able to watch two seasons of the show? When we're talking about a streaming platform that owns all the rights to its content, the idea of seeing projects move around would seem to be far less likely. 

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.