One of the worst things a fan can hear is that one of their favorite TV shows has been canceled. Sometimes you see it coming, while other times you're left completely blindsided. In the case of Andrew Lincoln's latest TV drama, we're not too surprised that it has gotten the boot.
Walking Dead fans know Lincoln best from portraying the battle-hardened former sheriff's deputy Rick Grimes for most of the zombie series. While he would go on to take on other projects like Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities, most people still recognize him the most from his role in The Walking Dead. In fact, he even reprised his Rick role in the spinoff series The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
But in 2025, fans got to see Lincoln in an entirely different role. After signing on to the British TV thriller Coldwater in 2024, the show premiered on ITV in the UK in September 2025. It also wrapped up its first season that same month. However, US fans wouldn't get to see the new series until January 2026, when it officially premiered on Paramount+.
Now, it seems ITV has made a decision on Coldwater's fate. According to Digital Spy, the thriller series will not be returning for a second season. The news outlet reports that it has learned this news from an ITV spokesperson. Digital Spy even provided the official statement from ITV, and we shared it down below.
"We're hugely proud of Coldwater and everyone involved in making it. While there are no plans for a further series, we loved bringing this story to screen."
Are we totally shocked by Coldwater's cancellation? Not really. The show received mixed reviews from critics, and it didn't fare too well with audiences either. I mean, just check out the series' audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. It currently has a 53%, which is far from impressive.
The Sun even reports that while Coldwater started out strong, with nearly 3.9 million people watching when it premiered in September, only around 1 million viewers were still tuning in by the end of its run. That's not good at all! So, no, we're not surprised that ITV decided to pull the plug on the series after just one season.
Another thing worth noting is that while Coldwater was never officially marketed as a limited series, a December 2025 press release from Paramount+ made it seem like the show was designed as one. In this particular press release, the streaming giant shared the release schedule for when new episodes of Coldwater would drop on Paramount+. But what stood out was that the streamer said the "series finale" would drop on Feb. 13, 2026.
Typically, networks and streamers use the term "season finale" when there are plans or hopes for additional installments. That said, the wording definitely raised some eyebrows at the time. But perhaps Coldwater was always intended to be a one-and-done series. Who knows!
Coldwater stars Lincoln as John, a stay-at-home dad who moves his family to a small Scottish town after a violent incident in London. Hoping for a fresh start, things quickly take a dark turn when he meets his neighbor Tommy and realizes the town isn’t as peaceful as it looks.
Also in the cast are Eve Myles, Ewen Bremner, Indira Varma, Lorn Macdonald, Samuel Bottomley, Abigail Lawrie, Lois Chimimba, Gilly Gilchrist, and Jonathan Watson.
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