Despite an intensive online effort by a dedicated fan base, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency is closing down for good. The eclectic series was canceled by BBC America in December, following a slow but steady decline in ratings from a disappointingly received first season.
Based on the character created by legendary science fiction satirist Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently centered around the adventures of the titular detective (Samuel Barnett). Rather than using the inductive reasoning methods of Sherlock Holmes in order to solve a crime by considering the clues available to him, Dirk seeks out (or, more frequently, stumbles across) the solutions to his cases by investigating the fundamental connections between all things. Dirk is assisted in his efforts by Todd Brotzman (Elijah Wood) - a bellhop who accidentally becomes Dirk’s unwilling sidekick, after being named a person of interest in a murder investigation Dirk was hired to investigate by the victim before he was murdered.
THR reported the official announcement by executive producer Arvind Ethan David, who stated that the efforts to persuade Netflix (who distributed the series internationally) to finance a third season of Dirk Gently had fallen through. While not naming which other networks had been approached about picking up the series, David confirmed that other efforts to shop the show around had been made but failed to yield fruit. David also thanked the fans for their support and their efforts, which including a petition to save the show on the website Change.org.
While a blow to fans of the series, this result is hardly surprising. BBC America has been bringing many of their original series to a close recently, having allowed the critically acclaimed series Oprhan Black to bring itself to a set conclusion at the end of its fifth season in August. Dirk Gently was not quite so beloved, however, averaging slightly less than 250,000 viewers per episode during its second season. The show also lacked the support of Adams’ purists, who largely preferred the original 2010 Dirk Gently series produced by ITV Studios, despite the insistence of executive producer Max Landis that the BBC America series was truer to the spirit of the original books even though it was set in America.
It is likely that Netflix’s reluctance to sponsor a third series of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency may be tied to Landis’ association with the series. Landis has recently been accused of habitual harassment and assault by multiple victims. Additionally, Landis was responsible for writing the script for Bright - a Netflix original movie that was one of the most critically panned films of 2017.
More: Sexual Assault Allegations Levied at Max Landis
Source: THR
