Why was 'The Fosters' canceled in 2018? Spin-off 'Good Trouble' was already in works when end was announced
In the last few years, ‘Good Trouble’, a Freeform drama, has received popular and critical acclaim. The show is about to embark upon its third season and fans are already excited. But to paraphrase a popular meme, ‘The Fosters’ ran so that ‘Good Trouble’ could walk.
‘Good Trouble’, a spin-off of ‘The Fosters’, found popularity in the hardcore fans of the latter, who were heartbroken about the show ending after five seasons in June 2018. So, despite the story still finding a new home (of sorts), the show came to an abrupt end.
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Why was ‘The Fosters’ canceled?
In January 2018, it was announced that ‘The Fosters’ would wrap up Season 5B with a two-hour finale, which would also mark its 100th episode. Deadline reported that the network greenlighted a three-part ‘The Fosters’ finale event to air in the summer of 2018, while also giving a 13-episode series order to an offshoot starring the series’ Cierra Ramirez and Maia Mitchell that we now know as ‘Good Trouble’.
Freeform’s EVP programming and development Karey Burke said at that time that the idea for a spinoff series came from three writing executive producers of ‘The Fosters’, Peter Paige, Bradley Bredeweg, and Joanna Johnson, who was shepherding the spin-off project. The trio felt, said Burke, that it was time to grow the younger characters up and pitched the idea of how to do that.
“It’s really about expanding the universe and continuing the legacy of The Fosters but in a different venue,” Burke said, adding that while on that show, the characters stayed in the same town, “we felt like taking a bolder step with ‘The Fosters’ and let the characters choose a new path.” While ‘Good Trouble’ -- though that name had not been announced then -- was moving in a new direction, Burke promised that it would still maintain ties with the mothership show. “We plan to have all characters from the original series make guest appearances,” Burke said then.
Showrunner Joanna Johnson speaking to Variety in June 2018 said that the network initially wasn’t supportive of the idea to have a three-part summer finale event. But when they decided the show would not continue on, they changed their minds. But ‘The Fosters’ team had other plans. “[They] wanted the audience to know, ‘Hey, there’s more story coming, we’re not done,'” Johnson said.
Johnson, however, also said that “there were financial reasons” behind ‘The Fosters’ coming to an end. The show had reportedly experienced falling ratings for a couple of years before season 5B and the summer finale event happened. But Freeform has never commented on any financial reasons for the show’s cancellation. Johnson said that it was Freeform who pushed to “have the show go out with something special” before launching the spinoff.
“After watching this family grow and evolve over the last five seasons, we ultimately decided it was time to see the kids grow up and send them out into adulthood to face new challenges,” Burke told Variety. “We knew that by following Mariana and Callie to Los Angeles we could continue to build on ‘The Fosters’ legacy, all while focusing on that pivotal moment in a young adult’s life when they’re trying to find their place in the world.”
‘Good Trouble’ Season 3 is set to premiere on February 17, 2021, only on Freeform.