Ballard’s renewal status is great for the fans, but even better given how Prime Video has been busy axing some bigger series!
Usually, when it comes to streaming services cutting promising shows short after one season, Netflix is the top culprit. That streamer’s long list of shows that should have gone on longer is too lengthy to go into and includes more than a few crime dramas.
However, Prime Video can be just as guilty with shows that are cut way too short. While it’s easy to blame the old excuse of low viewing numbers, there are also cases of high budgets and turnover in Amazon management.
This has come to the fore now as Amazon made the announcement that they are canceling not one but two top spy shows, Countdown and Butterfly. Both shows premiered over the summer, with Countdown bringing in good viewing numbers, but both were canceled.
This comes after Prime Video axed the YA drama Motorheads after one season. More appallingly, the ballet dramedy Etoile had gotten a second season renewal before it premiered, only for the show to be canceled just a few weeks after that first season dropped.
Which is why fans should be more than happy that Ballard survived this Prime purge for a second season of this great show!
We should be grateful Ballard is back
It should be noted that Prime Video has been handing out as many renewals as cancellations. That includes the comedy Overcompensating and the thriller We Were Liars.
Among those renewals was Ballard, a spinoff of Bosch: Legacy, where Maggie Q played Renee Ballard, an LAPD cop investigating cold cases. Dropping all 10 episodes in July, the show had good viewing numbers and reviews, with Amazon renewing it in early October.
The show’s survival was partly due to how outgoing Amazon MGM Studios Head of Global TV Vernon Sanders gave the renewal order, which was finalized under successor Peter Friedlander. A key factor was that the show had a built-in audience, as Bosch fans tuned into the show, especially with Titus Welliver making a couple of appearances as Harry Bosch.
It helps that the show has a much lower budget than other Prime Video series, especially spy thrillers like Countdown or Butterfly (the latter filmed in South Korea). There’s also viewers excited to see the conclusion to the big season 1 cliffhanger.
Still, this wouldn’t be the first good cop show ended by Prime Video, which axed the series On Call earlier this year. Amazon has been undergoing a few management shifts, combined with a need to cut costs, so it would have been all too easy for Ballard to be caught up in that wave and brushed off as a low-key show for Amazon.
A cliffhanger can’t always save a series, as Countdown and Butterfly both proved. Countdown also had a TV favorite in Jensen Ackles and more promotion from Amazon but failed to connect, showing that the talent involved doesn’t always sway executives. That’s without the creative turnover at Amazon, as sometimes it’s the personal preference of some suit that makes or breaks a show’s fate.
Luckily, Ballard had the right mix of star, audience, budget and Amazon support to get a second season. The show likely won’t be coming back until late 2026 or early 2027 and there can be a mild concern the renewal is revoked (something else that happens). Yet with the way Prime Video is with shows, having Ballard coming back at all is more than a relief to its fans.
Ballard is available to stream on Prime Video.
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