It’s one and done for the Prime Video original series Night Sky, which starred J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek. The sci-fi series, which debuted all eight of its episodes on May 20, is not moving forward with a second season. The news was first reported by Deadline.
Night Sky starred Oscar-winners Simmons (Whiplash) and Spacek (Coal Miner’s Daughter) as a married couple that years ago discovered a chamber that allowed them to access a deserted alien planet, which they kept a secret from everyone else. However, when a mysterious young man enters their lives, the secret begins to get out and the couple’s lives are upended.
Chai Hansen, Kiah McKirnan, Julieta Zylberberg, Rocío Hernandez and Adam Bartley co-starred in Night Sky. The series was created by Holden Miller.
Reviews for Night Sky were generally positive. The show was given a 73% "Fresh" score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, while 81% of the audiences enjoyed it, per the site. However, as Deadline points out, the show’s viewership numbers were not strong enough to offset its big budget.
Despite all this, Night Sky did something that no other TV show has done before — be transmitted into space. Prime Video worked with Amazon Web Services, SES and Intelsat to beam Night Sky’s first episode into outer space. In doing so, the show became the first streamer to send its content directly into space and is being recognized as the farthest distance from Earth that a TV series has been distributed. Unfortunately, doesn’t look like the aliens were able to pick it up.
Night Sky is the latest of many TV shows that ended in 2022, either by cancellation or coming to a natural conclusion. It joins the likes of The Time Traveler’s Wife, Peaky Blinders, Animal Kingdom and The Endgame, to name a few.
There hasn’t been an immediate groundswell from fans for another network to save Night Sky (though one still may come). We’ve seen that rallying cries from fans have recently worked with shows like Manifest, American Rust and Magnum P.I.
All eight episodes of Night Sky are available to stream on Prime Video. You must be a subscriber to watch the series.
