Dangerous Liaisons’ Season 2 renewal was announced on Nov. 1, ahead of the series’ Nov. 6 debut. According to sources, Starz brass continues to believe in the show creatively but the prequel to the famous 18th-century novel struggled to find an audience, leading to its cancellation.
On linear, Dangerous Liaisons premiered with a 0.03 rating among the 18-49 demographic and only 88,000 total viewers. Things didn’t improve in the following weeks, with 52,000 total viewers for the Thanksgiving weekend episode. Though ratings improved slightly with its Dec. 4 airing, the show has yet to crack a six-figure L+SD audience thus far. Starz has not disclosed data on delayed viewing and streaming audiences on the Starz app where Dangerous Liaisons had been expected to do most of its business.
The period drama stars Alice Englert as the Marquise de Merteuil and Nicholas Denton as Vicomte de Valmont. It tells the origin story of the two iconic characters when they met on the eve of the revolution in Paris. Kosar Ali, Carice Van Houten, Hilton Pelser, Fisayo Akinade, Michael McElhatton, Nathanael Saleh, Colette Dalal Tchantcho, Hakeem Kae-Kazim and Tom Wlaschiha also star.
Dangerous Liaisons, which hails from Lionsgate TV, Playground Entertainment, and Flame Ventures, is the second period drama to be canceled at Starz, following freshman series Becoming Elizabeth in November.
