Parish star Giancarlo Esposito had ideas about where his character might go in Season 2 before the show's untimely cancellation. The AMC drama series ran for six episodes before it was given the axe. However, as part of AMC's renewed deal with Netflix, Parish has seen a resurgence in popularity since being added to the streamer, resulting in strong demand for another season.
Parish stars Esposito as Gray Parish, an ex-criminal who gave up his activities to become a family man, only to be tempted back into his old ways following the murder of his son. The series initially aired on AMC in March 2024, but was cancelled shortly after in October of that year. It has since risen into the limelight after its addition on Netflix, remaining in the Top 10 charts in the US since its debut on October 24.
Why Parish Was Canceled Ahead of Its Netflix Release
Parish debuted to mixed reviews during its initial release, and despite a small but committed fanbase and Esposito's star power, AMC opted not to renew the show for further episodes.
The reason given by AMC for Parish's cancellation was that the network was "unable to proceed with a second season," although further reasoning as to why was not provided:
“We’re so proud of ‘Parish,’ and thankful for the creative talent involved and the performances they were able to bring to the screen, starting with the remarkable Giancarlo Esposito, Skeet Ulrich and the entire cast. We are unfortunately unable to proceed with a second season, but season one will remain available on AMC+ to fans who want to relive this thrill ride of a series and those yet to discover it.”
Parish may not have made a mark for AMC, but since its arrival on Netflix in the U.S. on October 24th, the show has been a consistent chart topper. The series has consistently been in the Top 10 on Netflix since its launch on streaming, and at its peak climbed to the #3 spot in the U.S.
This resurgence in popularity, which is the case with many network shows that later debut on Netflix (such as Quantum Leap), has led to hopes that AMC may rethink Parish's renewal, particularly as the season finale left many plot threads untied.
Giancarlo Esposito Shared Hopes For Gray Parish's Season 2 Parish Future
Before its cancellation, Esposito shared his hopes about where Parish might go next season. In an interview with TV Line, the star revealed that conversations had already happened between himself and showrunners Ryan Maldonado and Eduardo Canto about another season. He said that future episodes would dig into Parish's backstory, saying, "In order for [Parish] to head his present and future, he's got to heal his past:"
Giancarlo Esposito: "I love Ryan Maldonado and Eduardo Canto, our showrunners and writers. We have conversations about what Season 2 could hold ahead of a positive pickup, and we're hopeful and inviting for that to happen. We're talking about all of these loose ends and how we bring another very powerful season of Parish to our audience.
What are the things that root and ground him, and what is he looking for? What is his next journey to learn from? What is the next thing he's gonna get crushed by? What is the information that we don't know? In order for him to heal his present and future, he's got to heal his past, and he's still not looking at that past completely because we don't, as an audience, know all about it and his family doesn't either."
Esposito added that there were parallels between Parish and his Breaking Bad character of Gus Fring, sharing that the show would have dug further into the "am I a good man?" concept. The actor added that his character's hesitance to dig into and deal with his past makes him unwilling to transform, which would create a "boiling point" scenario in Season 2:
Giancarlo Esposito: "We want Parish to transform so that you can transform as an audience, too. We've got to love what he's doing. We've got to love his nefarious ways and then we've got to hate him for it. We've got to see him hate himself for it. Then we've got see him say, 'No, I'm better than this. My moral compass won't let me. I take responsibility, but I can't do that again, right? Never make the same mistake twice.' Some other character I played said that, right?
So it's moving into that zone, and that's what we love about a crime drama with an, 'Am I a good man?' concept at its core. We want you to take this journey with Parish so that you can be encouraged and inspired to look back into your past and clean it up. He's not ready to clean it up. He has to get in a little deeper. To layer our story with all of that in our second season creates a real boiling point for Parish that I think is necessary."
Adding to the disappointment about Parish's cancellation is that the series was always intended to have more. Executive producer Ryan Maldonado explained to Assignment X that they built the conclusion of Parish's first season to leave the audience "craving more:"
Ryan Maldonado: “I’ve noticed recently a lot of people multitask when they watch television, and not only am I proud of what we’ve made, I actually think we made something that demands for our audience to put the phone down, put the computer away, watch this, enjoy it, be invested.
We’ve created some incredible characters. This character is going on an insane journey. And by the time you get to Episode 6, the last episode of the season, I think you’re going to be craving more.”
Now that Parish is climbing the Netflix charts, fans have renewed hope that the show could be picked up despite its cancellation, particularly as it's been made clear there's an appetite for it.
There is precedent for this in the past, with Netflix saving the likes of Lucifer, Designated Survivor, and Manifest from the chopping block after their cancellations and renewing them to great success on streaming. Netflix and AMC's agreement extends solely to licensing at this point, but if the latter's shows continue to see success on streaming, perhaps it will inspire the two TV giants to form a new partnership that could give these shows a second life.
