Chapelwaite Canceled at MGM+, Season 2 Renewal Rescinded as Streamer Greenlights True-Crime Docuseries

We have some bad news for fans of Chapelwaite.

The horror drama will not be returning for a second season.

Co-creator and Executive Producer Jason Filardi took to X to share the sad news.

“I’m afraid Captain Boone’s story ends on that beach of weathered, Maine sand,” Filardi posted.

“There will be no Season 2. Thank you to all the Chapelwaite fans!”

Chapelwaite launched in August 2021, with the development of a second season being announced shortly after.

But with a lack of updates, fans were left pondering what would become of the series.

Unfortunately, it’s likely that no episodes were produced for the planned second season, and EPIX becoming MGM+ likely changed the streamer’s priorities away from making the new season.

Set in the 1850s, the Chapelwaite follows Captain Charles Boone (Adrien Brody), who relocates his family of three children to his ancestral home in the small, seemingly sleepy town of Preacher’s Corners, Maine, after his wife dies at sea. 

However, Charles will soon have to confront the secrets of his family’s sordid history and fight to end the darkness that has plagued the Boones for generations. 

Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek) played Rebecca Morgan, an ambitious young woman who left Preacher’s Corners to attend Mount Holyoke College and has returned home with an advance to write a story for the new and prestigious Atlantic Magazine.

Her writer’s block lifts when Boone arrives in town with his children, and despite her mother’s protests, Rebecca applies to be the governess of the infamous Chapelwaite manor and the Boone family in order to write about them.

In doing so, Rebecca will not only craft the next great gothic novel, she’ll unravel a mystery that has plagued her own family for years.

In addition to Brody, Chapelwaite was executive produced by Donald De Line (Ready Player One, Wayward Pines), Jason Filardi, Peter Filardi and Burr Steers.

Chapelwaite Season 1 was bursting at the seams with thrills and chills, meaning the decision to end the series with so many loose ends won’t sit well with fans.

There was a desire from fans to have a resolution, so, unfortunately, the series has ended.

With the first season ending over two years ago, there were questions about its future.

In other MGM+ news, the streaming service has ordered true-crime docuseries The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History of Hollywood.

The series is based on Michael Connelly’s (Bosch; The Lincoln Lawyer) hit Audible podcast of the same name.

Directed by Alison Ellwood (San Francisco Sounds, Laurel Canyon), the four-episode docuseries will be the definitive examination of the infamous Wonderland murder case in 1980s Los Angeles.

The Wonderland Murders & the Secret History of Hollywood was released exclusively on Audible as a limited documentary podcast series, and audiences have spent 150,000 hours listening to Connelly’s riveting investigation.

On July 1, 1981, four people were discovered severely beaten to death in a suburban home in Laurel Canyon on Wonderland Avenue.

The murders’ aftermath spans two decades and reaches into present day with details, subplots, and investigative twists that prove the old adage that truth is stranger than fiction.

Related: Beacon 23 Sets MGM+ Premiere Date

From a bought-off juror to the biggest porn actor of his generation, an alleged corrupt federal agent and a kind of Zelig of Hollywood’s dark underbelly, much about the case remains unresolved, and there are people who got away with murder.

“Through explosive in-depth reporting, new developments, rare archival footage, and pivotal testimony from “missing witness” Scott Thorson (best known as Liberace’s boyfriend and the writer of the tell-all Behind the Candelabra),” the logline teases, adding:

“Wonderland Murders will delve into the gruesome crime that has captured the public’s imagination for nearly half a century, and tell a broader story about Los Angeles, the American dream, and when justice does—and doesn’t—work.”

The series is produced by Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) and Miziker Content, and executive produced by Michael Connelly, Alison Ellwood, Jen Casey and Nick Gilhool, Eli Holzman and Aaron Saidman for IPC, and Rick Jackson.

What are your thoughts on the cancellation of Chapelwaite?

Hit the comments.

Edit Delete

Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on X.