When AMC canceled "The Killing" at the end of last month, it put an end to a show that was full of promise but wound up infuriating many viewers by drawing out the mystery behind the murder of Rosie Larsen across two wheel-spinning seasons. In fact, as the second season begun, we laid out the case why viewers should be very, very careful about continuing to tune in to a program that offered increasingly diminished returns. And in any event, audiences were indeed frustrated, as viewership dropped considerably to 1.5 million viewers for the season finale, a tumble from the 2.7 million who tuned in for the first episode. But remarkably, despite harsh criticism from both critics and fans, and clearly measured waning interest, "The Killing" may live on.
TVLine reports that both Netflix and DirecTV are talking with Fox TV Studios to bring the show back for a third season. Wha? Yes, really. It's all every preliminary, and both outlets are remaining mum, but we're kind of baffled at what they see in the show. We'd have to wager it's due to the rising profiles both Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos. The former will light up screens next summer as "RoboCop," and in Sweden, he starred in "Snabba Cash II" this month which ousted "The Dark Knight Rises" from the top spot at the box office there. Meanwhile, Enos will be featuring in "Gangster Squad," "World War Z" and Atom Egoyan's "Devil's Knot" in the coming year. Having a show with both stars? Probably not a bad idea. At least on paper.
But will audiences even care? "The Killing" went out with a whimper and frankly, no one has really been clamoring for more. Given a second shot can the showrunners turn it around? If a third season crops up, will you be willing to tune in?
