National Treasure: Edge of History & Other Canceled TV Spinoffs

Jun 23, 2023

National Treasure: Edge of History was one of Disney+'s many recent cancelations, but it's not the only TV show fated to shut down early.

TV series have often turned to well-established movies and shows for inspiration when it comes to telling fresh and compelling new stories. However, not all of these endeavors pan out, and many attempts to create a franchise from a film or TV series ended in failure. There are many reasons for this, which can range from poor quality and low hype to high competition or production costs.

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Spinoffs sometimes explore stories and characters that fans never really cared about or who didn't work as a solo character. Trying to replicate the success of a hit movie or TV series with lesser-known characters, settings, and stories is a hit-or-miss strategy. Where some spin-offs manage to surpass their original, this is typically the exception and not the rule.

Kiefer Sutherland's portrayal of Jack Bauer and the success of 24 turned into what was the ultimate binge-action series. With episodes set in real-time, each season was a day in the life of agents of the Counter-Terrorism Unit as they tried to prevent catastrophic attacks.

24: Legacy was an attempt to revive the show with a new protagonist on a mission separate from those of Bauer. However, after the original hero's story ended on a cliffhanger in 24: Live Another Day, fan interest plummeted as they felt betrayed by the idea of leaving Jack's story so open-ended.

Training Day started out as a hard-hitting movie focused on a rookie narcotics cop dealing with corruption from his fellow officers. The concept was revisited in a 2017 series, led by Bill Paxton and Justin Cornwell, with the latter playing a cop charged with going undercover as a trainee to spy on the former.

Training Day didn't follow as much of a clear-cut dynamic as the original film, with the cop under investigation being more morally gray than Alonzo. Unfortunately, the untimely death of Bill Paxton coupled with minimal hype for the show meant there was no second season.

The DCU's TV universe had been mostly successful with series like Titans and Doom Patrol, later resulting in a Swamp Thing series. The series turned out to be one of the best DC-based projects since the DCEU began, with a combination of sci-fi and creature feature horror.

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Swamp Thing was canceled for the silliest of reasons. Initially slated to be 15 episodes, the loss of tax incentives meant production was cut to 10 episodes, later being outright canceled. Doom Patrol suffered a similar fate, with its fourth season being canceled before it could be completed.

The attempt to turn Criminal Minds into a franchise the same way studios had done with CSI and NCIS was smart, but neither spin-off series found its footing. The two spin-offs, Suspect Behavior, and Beyond Borders, faced cancelation, but the former didn't even receive a second season.

Suspect Behavior's' demise was surprising, considering it didn't just have a high-profile cast, it also benefited from having series regular, Kirsten Vangsness' Penelope Garcia attached. The series focused on a San Francisco branch of the BAU, but just couldn't capture the hype of the original series.

Following the mega-success of Friends, the show's most lovable character, Joey Tribianni, received his own spin-off sitcom. Set in Los Angeles, it followed Joey on his post-Manhattan journey as he tried to make it big in Hollywood. However, the series only lasted one season.

Joey is famously one of the worst spin-offs ever made, and the series proved that its main character really depended on the Friends personalities to work. The humor declined in quality and fans made it clear they simply weren't interested, leaving the Friends finale as their definitive point of closure.

Tremors is the poster film for what a good comedy/monster movie should be. Starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, it followed a small town battling underground worm monsters. However, after the first film, Michael Gross took over as the franchise's leading hero, where he played Burt Gummer.

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Tremors was given a 2003 series that lasted for 13 episodes but, unfortunately, was never renewed for a second season. Instead, Tremors as a franchise has been relegated to low-budget TV movies, effectively following on from the series and original film.

Tom Cruise's Minority Report is best known for coining the idea of "pre-crime," a futuristic concept whereby police can detect crimes before they occur. It was later developed into a long-form police procedural that focused on new characters dealing with pre-crime.

Minority Report only lasted a season, in large part because it was incredibly underwhelming when compared to the original film. It took a great science fiction concept and reworked it into just another bland police procedural with a mildly interesting gimmick.

The Lone Gunmen were a recurring trio of conspiracy theorists—often proven correct—who would assist Mulder and Scully on The X-Files. Their solo series of the same name revolved around various conspiracies related to the works of Mulder and Scully and filled in some gaps in their story.

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The Lone Gunmen followed its quirky band of friends in a more light-hearted and comedic interpretation of the X-Files universe. The series expanded the cast of characters, but the tonal shift and loss of the franchise's mainstay characters left the show at just 13 episodes.

The Finder spun out of Fox's Bones and had an excellent and highly underrated premise. The series followed Walter Sherman, introduced as a friend of Seeley Booth's, who was an Iraq War veteran who developed the ability to notice random connections after brain damage caused by an IED.

The Finder had unusual and whacky stories that set a great, albeit niche tone for its story. Unfortunately, Fox decided to cancel after just 13 episodes. What could have been the beginning of a Bones shared universe in the style of NCIS went down in flames.

Nicolas Cage's National Treasure is one of the actor's most cherished films. After almost a decade of fans demanding the actor's return to complete a trilogy, Disney announced a spin-off series that would revolve around a new hero, Jess Valenzuela.

National Treasure: Edge of History wound up being canceled by Disney before a single episode was released, though the series did still drop on the streaming giant. Considering just how anticipated Cage's return was, the lack of fanfare for a spin-off was understandable.