Freevee has canceled “Primo,” the coming-of-age sitcom created by New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano, after its first season.
Serrano announced the cancellation via a post on social media site X.
“A short but beautiful run — sadly we’re not gonna be making any more episodes of PRIMO — I will always be indebted to everyone who worked on the show to make it so great and I will always be thankful to everyone who watched and championed it — thank you for real — long live PRIMO,” he said.
Serrano loosely based “Primo” on his own upbringing in San Antonio. The sitcom follows 16-year-old Rafa (played by Ignacio Diaz-Silverio), who is being raised by his single mother and five uncles.
“Primo”
(Jeff Neumann/Amazon Freevee)
Alongside Hulu’s “This Fool” and Netflix’s “Gentefied” and “Freeridge,” “Primo” is the latest Latino-focused project that failed to make it past its first or second season. According to global consulting business firm McKinsey & Company, Latinos “hold less than 5% of leading on-screen, off-screen, and executive leadership roles in US media” despite making up 19% of the country’s population.
Originally in development at ABC, “Primo” was picked up by IMDb TV (now Amazon’s Freevee) in October 2021. All eight episodes began streaming in May 2023, which coincided with the beginning of last summer’s Writers Guild of America strike against Hollywood producers and streamers.
“I’m bummed that the strike had to happen, but also I’m proud that the strike is happening. And what I mean is: Writers are wildly important,” Serrano said in a piece for The Times. “Every movie or TV show you’ve ever loved started out as something that someone wrote. It was words on a page. Without writers, you don’t have that — it’s impossible.”
“Primo” garnered plenty of critical acclaim — even achieving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Shortly after the show’s premiere, executive producer Michael Schur, who also worked on “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation” and “The Good Place,” revealed that Season 2 of “Primo” was already in the works.
“Freevee paid for us to actually write it,” Schur told TV Insider. “It’s all ready to go at a second’s notice.”
