EXCLUSIVE: Paramount+ has opted not to proceed with a second season of Robert and Michelle King’s crime drama series Happy Face, starring Annaleigh Ashford and Dennis Quaid, Deadline has learned. The news comes almost two months after the Season 1 finale was released May 1.
The cancellation is not entirely surprising. Happy Face didn’t make much noise during its run and didn’t break into Nielsen’s Streaming Originals Top 10. Produced by CBS Studios, it was a rare Paramount+ original series not based on existing IP or part of Taylor Sheridan’s Universe.
The drama was inspired by the true-life story of Melissa Moore; the Happy Face podcast from iHeartPodcasts and Moore; and the autobiography Shattered Silence, written by Moore with M. Bridget Cook.
Jumping off from Moore’s true-life story, Happy Face follows Melissa (Ashford) and her incarcerated father, known as the Happy Face Killer (Quaid). After decades of no contact, he finally finds a way to force himself back into his daughter’s life. In a race against the clock, Melissa must find out if an innocent man is going to be put to death for a crime her father committed. Throughout, she discovers the impact her father had on his victims’ families and must face a reckoning of her own identity.
James Wolk, Tamera Tomakili, Khiyla Aynne and Benjamin Mackey also starred in Season 1, whose finale provided a satisfying ending to the case but also left it open-ended for a potential second season with the characters.
Happy Face was produced by CBS Studios in association with King Size Productions, iHeartPodcasts and Semi-Formal Productions. Jennifer Cacicio served as showrunner for the series and executive produced alongside the Kings, Liz Glotzer, Melissa G. Moore, Conal Byrne, Will Pearson, Michael Showalter (who directed the first episode) and Jordana Mollick.
Under their CBS Studios overall deal, the Kings have crime drama Elsbeth, which is set to return to CBS for Season 3, and Silicon Valley legal drama Cupertino, which has an order for 12 scripts from the broadcast network.
At Paramount+, CBS Studios has the Star Trek franchise as well as Criminal Minds: Evolution and the upcoming NCIS: Tony & Ziva.
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