‘Monarch’ Canceled At Fox After One Season

EXCLUSIVE: The Roman’s country music dynasty is over.

Monarch will not be returning to Fox for a second season.

The drama series, which starred Anna Friel, Trace Adkins, Joshua Sasse and Beth Ditto with Susan Sarandon, will end after last night’s season closer.

While the series opened with a decent showing – it scored an 0.8 adults 18-49 Live+Same Day ratings and 3.8 million total viewers with its premiere in September and ranked as Fox’s most-watched fall scripted debut in three years, it struggled over its subsequent ten episodes.

Across its 11 episodes, Monarch averaged a 0.3/3 L7, up 50% from L+SD, and 4.1 million multi-platform viewers, up +149% from L+SD.

It wasn’t the breakout country music soap that Fox had hoped for when it ordered its first wholly owned scripted series.

The show, which was filmed during the pandemic, was originally set to launch in January 2022 but was pushed to fall as a result of Covid-19. It was purposefully designed for a shorter run of 11 episodes.

Created by Melissa London Hilfers, Monarch came out of the network’s script-to-series model.

The series is a multigenerational musical drama about America’s first family of country music, the Romans. The Romans are headed by the insanely talented, but tough as nails Queen of Country Music Dottie Cantrell Roman, played by Sarandon, who dies in the opening episode.

Along with her beloved husband Albie, played by Adkins, Dottie has created a country music dynasty. But even though the Roman name is synonymous with authenticity, the very foundation of their success is a lie. And when their reign as country royalty is put in jeopardy, heir to the crown Nicolette “Nicky” Roman, played by Friel, will stop at nothing to protect her family’s legacy, while ensuring her own quest for stardom.

Ditto, Sasse, Inigo Pascual, Martha Higareda, Meagan Holder and Emma Miliani also star with Eva Amurri, Adam Croasdell and Faith Prince among those recurring. There were also guest appearances from the likes of Shania Twain, Martina McBride, Little Big Town, Caitlyn Smith and Tanya Tucker.

Exec producers for the Fox Entertainment-produced series include Hilfers, Feldman, Gail Berman, Hend Baghdady and Jason Owen.