Ridley Scott’s Head Of TV Development Reflects On HBO Canceling ‘Raised By Wolves’: “It Was Deeply Frustrating”

Screaming bloody murder
Amanda Collin screams bloody murder in Raised By Wolves Season 1 Episode 1 "Raised by Wolves" (2020), HBO

Ahead of the release of Gladiator II, which is decades in the making, there’s been renewed talk of past, present, and future Ridley Scott projects. Other than the usual Alien sequel announcement, one recent example that was arguably canceled before its time came up in an interview with Scott’s people.

None of my business
Sigourney Weaver and Harry Dean Stanton know the best part of waking up in Alien (1979), 20th Century Fox

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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about Gladiator II, the president of the TV development at Scott Free Productions Clayton Krueger discussed the dystopian sci-fi fantasy series Raised By Wolves. Developed in conjunction with HBO, the show debuted on HBO Max as a flagship program at launch.

It ran for two seasons only to be axed abruptly as it was hitting its stride, Krueger feels, during the upheaval of Warner Bros.’s recurring shake-ups. “It was deeply frustrating,” Krueger said. “We really were creatively positioned to start up. We had broken the season, we had the team together. We felt like the show really found its footing.”

Mother attacker
Mother (Amanda Collin) attacks the ark in Raised By Wolves Season 1 Episode 1 “Raised by Wolves” (2020), HBO

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Raised By Wolves starred Amanda Collin and Abubakar Salim as two androids raising human children on an alien planet after a sectarian war destroyed Earth. Once it was canceled, Salim spread the word on Twitter in hopes another service would pick it up.

“It’s not surprising, especially after the news of the mergers and what is happening at Warner, that a lot of shows are not having their stories finished,” he wrote.

“And unfortunately, one of those shows is Raised by Wolves. Nothing has been publicly shared yet. And there is a reason for that. An important one. One which I’m here to share with you now. There is hope,” the actor added in his thread via JoBlo.

Abu the baker
Abubakar Salim (abzybabzy) on X

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It was not to be as the show was pulled from Max and dumped in a bundle of content onto ad-based streaming platforms such as Tubi, where it streams on a WB TV watch list. In the wake of cancelation, HBO issued a statement.

“While we are not proceeding with a third season of Raised by Wolves, we are beyond grateful to the stellar cast and crew, our creators Aaron Guzikowski, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, and the entire team at Scott Free Productions, for their beautiful artistry and unique ability to immerse fans into the world of Kepler-22b,” they said.

Gladiator II is in theaters November 22nd.

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