Larry Teng, one of the executive producers of The CW‘s Nancy Drew, has slammed the network brass for the “disrespectful” way they canceled the mystery drama series.
Nancy Drew aired its series finale on Wednesday, August 23, wrapping up four seasons of the Kennedy McMann-starring drama. Fans had high praise for the finale and how it tied up loose ends, but, according to Teng, that almost didn’t happen.
Taking to Twitter/X on Thursday, August 24, Teng explained how it was only due to a chance phone call that the Nancy Drew team found out the show wasn’t getting picked up for a fifth season. If this didn’t happen, Teng said they would have filmed the Season 4 finale, having no idea it would be their last episode.
So… this could be long. From what I’ve read, the reaction to the series finale have been mostly positive. Now imagine if you watched that finale without us knowing it would be the last episode of #NancyDrew ever. Because that’s what almost happened.
— Larry Teng (@larryteng) August 24, 2023
“From what I’ve read, the reaction to the series finale have been mostly positive. Now imagine if you watched that finale without us knowing it would be the last episode of #NancyDrew ever. Because that’s what almost happened,” Teng wrote at the start of a long Twitter thread.
Teng shared how McMann had a shoot lined up with The Good Lawyer, and the studio wanted to make sure she was available to film both shows. This meant figuring out the future Nancy Drew schedule, so CBS Studios called The CW execs for more information. That’s when they discovered the bad news.
“So CBS Studios made a call to The CW. Right around the time we were in prep on Episode 410. And asked the president of the new CW when we would find out about a pickup so we could make scheduling decisions,” Teng stated. “And it was then, he said to us, ‘Oh, we’re not picking you up… the show is too expensive.’”
“… the show is too expensive.” Had our Studio not made that call, who knows if we would’ve ever been told. At that point in the season there were only four episodes left to shoot and the writers were already breaking the finale.
— Larry Teng (@larryteng) August 24, 2023
Teng added that if the studio hadn’t made that call, “who knows if we would’ve ever been told,” adding that they only had four episodes left to shoot when they found out the news.
“What a f****** s****y way of telling us we were getting canceled,” he continued. “Thank God the Studio called. Because you all deserved the most proper ending possible. That’s why I praise the writers for pulling it together at the end. It was so glib.”
“I’ve been pissed at the upper brass of this new CW since November. They suck,” he went on to write. “They have every right to turn a profit…Which means canceling shows. But to have clearly known in advance and not tell us until a random call 3/4 into our season is just plain f****** disrespect.”
