‘A League Of Their Own’ Fans Frustrated As Show Renewed for Abbreviated Final Season: “Beyond a Joke”

By Kayla Cobb @kaylcobb
Published March 14, 2023, 4:20 p.m. ET

Where to Stream:

A League Of Their Own

Powered by Reelgood

More On:

A League Of Their Own

It looks like A League of Their Own may be ending its career early. After rumors broke earlier today, The Hollywood Reporter is now officially reporting that the baseball comedy will end with a four episode long second season. It’s an upsetting blow to a show that has emerged as a favorite, and fans are not happy about it.

Puck’s What I’m Hearing newsletter was the first to report the rumors of A League of Their Own’s second season. But now those rumors have intensified. Sources have told THR that the cast had to sign new deals in order to film half the episodes that were in Season 1. This news comes after months of renegotiations with Sony Pictures Television Studios. Sources are also saying this new installment will be billed as a “limited series,” indicating this show may be at its end.

When Decider reached out to Amazon, a representative for the streamer noted that Amazon did not comment on this initial report. Sony has also not made an official comment.

As soon as the rumor broke, fans took to Twitter to both celebrate the show’s renewal and complain about this shortened second season:

Some fans have even accused Amazon of homophobia for this truncated renewal:

Ever since A League of Their Own first premiered, the series has been categorized as a niche hit. A huge part of this narrative likely stems from the fact that Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson’s series centers around predominantly lesbian characters in the 1940s. But according to series co-creator Will Graham, this characterization does not align with the show’s actual viewership. “The audience is domestic, but our understanding is that it’s very big. It has outperformed many other shows that have been renewed,” Graham wrote on Twitter. The show initially debuted on Nielsen’s streaming chart with 326 million viewing minutes, while in its second week it jumped +76% to 574 million viewing minutes. Though it subsequently fell out of the Top 10, that only tells part of the story; and Amazon is notoriously tight lipped about releasing viewership numbers.

A reboot of the 1992 film of the same name, A League of Their Own follows the formation of the Rockford Peaches, a woman’s team part of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Whereas the original movie side-stepped and winked at questions of sexuality, the Amazon series turned subtext into text. Most of the main characters in the series, including Jacobson’s Carson Shaw, aren’t queer-coded. They’re outwardly gay on the show but forced to stay in the closet due to the social repercussions of the 1940s. Perhaps, given this fan outcry, Amazon might expand their order — though it’s doubtful. It would be a shame for such a charming, beloved show to end with just four episodes.