Fox has started ripping off the Band-Aid on its cancellations.
The newly independent broadcast network has opted to cancel the sophomore drama
The Gifted and the rookie comedy
Rel.
The cancellations mark the first to come for the newly independent Fox Entertainment. Both shows were produced by 20th Century Fox Television, the TV studio that was included in the $71.3 billion asset sale from Fox to Disney.
The Gifted, which recently wrapped its second season, was produced by Marvel Television. Its renewal was considered a long shot, given that Marvel's TV fare is almost all now exclusively on Disney-owned platforms after Netflix cut ties with the company and canceled all of the comic book giant's remaining originals. (Hulu, which has
Runaways and a slate of animated series, is now majority owned by Disney, as is FX, which has the final season of
Legion due.) Season two averaged fewer than 2 million viewers and just under a 0.6 rating, dropping 40 percent from its freshman run.
'The Gifted,' 'Rel' Canceled at Fox