The 2014-2015 TV season hasn’t even started yet and we already have our first casualty. Fox announced late last night that the Ancient Egypt drama Hieroglyph has been cancelled, even before a single episode airs.
Hieroglyph was written by Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim) and was going to be run by Anna Fricke (Being Human), notes Variety. Fox never set a firm premiere date for the show, but had planned to air it during midseason.
Fricke directed the first episode, which was shot in California and New Mexico earlier this year. Chernin Entertainment and 20th Century Fox TV were producing the project.
Fox put in a massive 13-episode order back in October 2013 and was developed under former Fox chief Kevin Reilly’s fantastical idea to kill pilot season. So, several more scripts for Hieroglyph were already written, but apparently Fox wasn’t happy with the results. Officially, Fox didn’t make any further comments on the show’s early death.
The network does have other projects in the works that were ordered during Reilly’s last months, including Gotham and Red Band Society, both of which will air in the fall. However, with Reilly gone and already one of his pet projects dead, it will be curious to see if Fox does continue ordering more shows to go straight to series.
In the meantime, Hieroglyph actors Max Brown, Kelsey Chow, Caroline Ford, Condola Rashad, Jonathan Rhys-Davies and Reece Ritchie will need another job.
image of Max Brown courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com