Prime Video has backtracked their season 2 renewal for A League of Their Own — and show creator and star Abbi Jacobson has spoken out.
“What luck I have had to get to tell these stories and play this character I love so much. What a rare thing in life. And so I am sad today,” Jacobson, 39, wrote via Instagram on Friday, August 18. “To blame this cancellation on the strike is bulls—t and cowardly. But this post isn’t about all that. About all the ways this show has been put through the ringer. Not today.”
Variety reported several hours earlier on Friday that Prime Video — who previously renewed the baseball drama in April for a limited season — reversed their decision. According to the outlet, Prime Video’s actions were a result of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. Unionized TV writers and actors have been on strike since May and July, respectively, after failing to reach agreements with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) during contract negotiations about fair wages, the use of artificial intelligence and more.
Prime Video has not further addressed the decision to cancel A League of Their Own, which was based on the 1992 movie of the same name. Jacobson, for her part, wanted to use her Friday social media post to pay tribute to the show’s cast and crew.
“This post here is about the special show I was lucky to make with so many incredibly talented artists and actors and writers and crew. A show I’m so proud of,” the Broad City alum added on Friday. “Filled to the brim with stories worth telling. Full of so much heart and soul and value. Thank you for watching. To the five. .”
Several of Jacobson’s costars shared their support in the comments, including D’Arcy Carden and showrunner William Wissler Graham.
“This show f—king ruled and whoever stomped this light out sucks ass,” singer Mary Lambert replied via Instagram comment, noting she was a faithful viewer of season 1. “The stories & characters were complex, the acting was stellar, the chemistry, the costuming and sets, the writing. All of it was delicious and fun and healed my queer heart in some unnamable way—thank you for that. Y’all made magic.”
Rosie O’Donnell, who appeared in both the OG movie and season 1 of the TV series, also reacted to the show’s cancellation. “Beautiful job u — a wonderful show — in every way,” O’Donnell, 61, wrote on Friday.
Season 1 of A League of Their Own premiered on Prime Video in August 2022.
“I think that we know a lot of tent poles of where we would go if we were able to do more seasons, but it’s just tricky now. I’ve never been the kind of person that operates where I just will get another season of anything. So my mind doesn’t operate like that,” Jacobson exclusively told Us Weekly at the time. “I think for season 1, we were very much like, let’s tell as much of this as we can and make us as meaty and juicy and full in every way. Every character’s as full as we can make them in case we don’t get to make more.”