One of the latest NBC productions, Debris, which was developed in partnership with Universal Television, Frequency Films, and Legendary Television, consisted of 9 episodes in the first season. The production met with the audience for the first time on March 1, 2021. Episodes of the series were broadcast weekly. The creator of the series, Joel Howard Wyman, was also the creator of Fringe, another popular science fiction series. The strong support he received from the series fans, which was released between 2008 and 2013, encouraged Wyman to shoot another sci-fi series.
After finding the concept of the show, Wyman’s first stop was NBC. The positive response he received from the channel officials increased his motivation. “When we went for the interview, they literally said, ‘We’re looking for things that cross borders, that reveal the artist’s vision.’ That was great to hear, but now I think they said it to encourage me,” Wyman says. “I think sci-fi has become a popular genre rather than an alternative. It doesn’t feel weird to most viewers anymore.”
The show includes known names such as Jonathan Tucker (The Ruins), Riann Steele (The Magicians and Ant-Man and the Wasp), Thomas Cadrot (Firefly Lane), Armin Karame (Upload), Tyrone Benskin (300) and Jennifer Copping (Mother of All Lies).
Jonathan Tucker said, “Debris is a really fun show. In the series, Debris allows people to pass through walls or change the weather. It is very exciting to see extrasensory perception, or the doppelganger (the monster that imitates and substitutes for someone’s appearance)”. He also adds; “We, actors, as well as the audience, are constantly on our toes to understand and solve what is going on in the show. He even called Joel and said, ‘hey Joel, can the wreck do that? Is this the correct use of technology? What do you think about the limits of this technology?’ We cannot help asking questions. So, I cannot imagine how the audience is when we are in such a struggle with the script.”
Although the show got a 72% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.6 rating on IMDb, it never achieved the desired results. The show’s 13-episode freshman run only averaged a 0.38 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 2.79 million viewers in the live and same-day ratings. Out of the 14 dramas that NBC has aired this season, Debris ranks 10 in the demo and 11 in total audience. Fans, on the other hand, are curious about a second season of the series. Has NBC already renewed or cancelled the series?
What is the plotline of Debris?
The series is about a CIA agent Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker), and an M16 agent Finola Jones (Riann Steele), embarking on a mission together to investigate the spacecraft that is strangely affecting people. In the production, which takes place at a time when a mysterious spacecraft explodes in the Earth’s atmosphere and leaves the Earth with highly advanced technology; both states and various criminal organizations want parts from this vehicle. Will the wreck turn into a blessing with its technology? Or will it turn into a weapon in the wrong hands?
The story begins as mysterious wreckage starts falling from the sky. Images of a wrecked spacecraft three years ago have been detected. For the last six months, parts of this spacecraft have been falling to various parts of the world. A secretive international agency named Orbital is tasked with figuring out what the wreckage is, where it came from, and what it can do. Two agents set out to investigate a spacecraft thought to have mysterious effects on humans. Finola Jones is a prolific physicist who has not lost her eye-opening miracle. Bryan Beneventi is a wise man with a secret golden heart. Even though they are partners, British agent Finola Jones and American agent Bryan Beneventi have very different styles. But they have to trust each other because they track down the Debris scattered across the Western Hemisphere. Later on, we learn that each part of the spacecraft has different strengths. These powers are the main mystery cause of the story. Each piece has an unpredictable, powerful, and sometimes dangerous effect on the ordinary people who find it. Every discovery is also a race against time as dark forces seek these objects for nefarious purposes.
Will there be a second season of Debris?
In a midseason TV question and answer, series’ co-lead Jonathan Tucker spoke directly to sci-fi fans’ concerns about Debris’ fate, saying, “Some people are like, ‘Will NBC cancel it before it has time to get?’ I cannot speak to that with the degree of confidence that I can have read all of the scripts and having spoken to Joel, who knows the last line of the first season and knows the last scene of the last season, but I can say the partnership with NBC, up until this point and particularly after the premiere, has been remarkable.”
“The networks understand, now more than ever, that people are consuming content in a very different way,” Tucker added. “They recognize that there might be a whole group of people that are not going to watch a single episode of Debris until we conclude our 13 episodes, and then they’re going to binge it all on Peacock. They’re being patient in that respect.”
After Debris’ first season finale, the audience asked; “When is Debris season 2?“. Unfortunately, sad news came from the channel about the second season. The network will not be moving forward with a Debris season 2. After huge promises, the show never really found its footing and failed to hit big numbers, only reaching a 0.7 average rating in the all-important 18-49 demographic and under 5 million viewers per episode. And numbers kept dropping. After 13 episodes, Debris still did not know where it was going. Its latest ratings were a dismal 0.38 rating and 2.8 million viewers, awful numbers for a network series. Without a story engine, audiences failed to care. The show was never intended to end with only one season, with a finale that brought more questions than answers to Debris’ central mystery.
It was announced that the 13-episode series, which started on March 1st and made the season finale on May 24th, was canceled after the season finale. The series, which achieved success in terms of ratings with its first episode, lost its rating on each continuing episode and was canceled by NBC due to low ratings. Despite the Debris’ cancellation, Tucker shared in a tweet that says he is very proud of the show, the crew, and the cast; calling the series “honorable work in process and outcome.”