The Lethal Weapon TV series has been successful and done well at times, but something about it just always appeared as if it was destined for trouble. There will be no more wondering, though, as Fox has cancelled the series after just three seasons on the air, which puts an end to its troubled history.
The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Lethal Weapon is out, and that isn’t surprising after the controversy that came from it last year. As successful as the four-film franchise was with Danny Glover and Mel Gibson, some people thought that this was going to be an automatic recipe for success.
It had its moments, but this is just one of those shows that never quite caught on. In a world full of very good crime dramas with NCIS , Law & Order: SVU , Chicago PD , and many others, Lethal Weapon simply became lost in the shuffle. Unfortunately for those working on the show, the off-camera problems didn’t help matters at all.
Last year, Clayne Crawford was fired by the TV series and Lethal Weapon had lost its Martin Riggs. After everything went down, Crawford even said that he “snapped” on the set and even interrupted a scene being shot which led to a lot of embarrassment and him losing his job.
Fox cancels #LethalWeapon https://t.co/H0Xr81Gt6H pic.twitter.com/p2GHXPbKJP
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 10, 2019
Once Crawford was fired, Seann William Scott signed on for Season 3 and took his spot, but as the different character of Wesley Cole. The character of Martin Riggs was actually shot and killed in the season finale of the second season.
Scott may have known from the beginning that this was not going to be a long gig.
Last year, Damon Wayans had already announced that if Lethal Weapon continued or not, he was not going to return after the third season. Coming Soon reported that the 58-year-old actor stated that he was not in a position to continue with his health and his age.
Hardcore Lethal Weapon fans will be able to understand even more when Wayans said that he was “getting too old for this.”
Lethal Weapon seemed doomed from the very beginning, even though it was highly anticipated upon its announcement a few years ago. Ratings continued to drop and it averaged a mere 0.71 rating in the 18-49 demographic with a little over 3 million viewers per Season 3 episode. That was a huge drop from Season 2 and a loss of almost a million viewers per episode which spelled bad things for the Fox series.
