Why did Showtime scrap James Patterson’s ‘The President Is Missing’ series?

Showtime will no longer produce The President is Missing television series. Why did they decide to scrap it?

Almost three years after Showtime won a competitive bidding war for the rights to James Patterson and Bill Clinton’s thriller The President is Missing, Variety reports that the premium cabler has decided to scrap the project altogether.

According to the publication, they learned from star Ann Dowd, who played the president in the pilot episode, that Showtime nixed the long-gestating series due to COVID-19 and the current political climate. Dowd talked about the series during a recent press junket for the upcoming Netflix film, Rebecca. She said the series would have had to be substantially rewritten to work, so Showtime opted not to move forward with it.

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“[Production] stopped midway and then because of the pandemic, the relevance of it, things needed to be changed in the writing because of what happens to the President. It just wouldn’t have worked. It would have had to have been re-conceived,” Dowd claimed.

The President is Missing starred David Oyelowo as the politically aimless leading character, Vice President James Martin. The premise of the series would have seen Martin stepping up as the leader of the free world, against his best wishes, after President Jillian Stroud (Dowd) mysteriously disappears.

Could another network or streaming service save The President is Missing?

As mentioned above, the bidding war for the novel was fiercely competitive. Patterson and Clinton’s collaboration was a hot commodity when it first released and topped several bestsellers lists.

If Showtime doesn’t want to be bothered working out the details, they could sell the rights to a competitor. Otherwise, the rights will eventually expire and likely return to the publishers or authors, who can then restart the process to get it made into a television series or film.

After the success of their first political thriller, Clinton and Patterson are expected to reteam for another novel titled The President’s Daughter, to be released in June 2021.

Are you disappointed that The President is Missing won’t be moving forward at Showtime? Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments below.