Three Women canceled at Showtime as network merges with Paramount+

Showtime-Paramount+ merger has reportedly taken Three Women, a TV series based on Lisa Taddeo’s 2019 bestseller of the same name, off the network’s database despite it completing its production.

Starring the likes of Shailene Woodley, Betty Gilpin, and DeWanda Wise, the unaired show was bankrolled by Composition 8 and Showtime Networks. Its principal photography began in Long Island, New York, in October 2021, while shooting started a month later in Schenectady, New York.

According to Variety and other publications, Three Women is currently being traded off to other platforms, with one bidder allegedly already expressing interest and making an offer. This aside, Showtime has also pulled the plug on American Gigolo and Let the Right One In.

While the former, led by The Walking Dead star Jon Bernthal, is based on the 1980 film of the same name starring Richard Gere, Let the Right One In has been taken from a 2004 Swedish horror novel, which also spawned a 2008 critically acclaimed Swedish movie.

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Lisa Taddeo's non-fiction book Three Women was received well by critics upon its arrival in 2019

Shailene Woodley in Three Women. (Photo via YouTube/Showtime)

Taddeo’s titular non-fiction book explores the emotional and s*xual lives of three US-based women who hail from different backgrounds and regions. Three Women, which was its author’s debut book and was published in July 2019, was received well by critics globally.

According to Showtime, the synopsis reads as:

“Three Women is an intimate, haunting portrayal of American female desire, in which three women are on a crash course to radically overturn their lives. In addition to Sloane, there is Lina, a homemaker in suburban Indiana who is a decade into a passionless marriage when she embarks on an affair that quickly becomes all-consuming and transforms her life, and Maggie, a student in North Dakota who weathers an intense storm after accusing her married English teacher of an inappropriate relationship.”

The Fault In Our Stars actor Shailene Woodley plays the character of Gia, a writer grieving the loss of her family. She pesters Sloane, Lina, and Maggie “to tell her their stories, and her relationship with them changes the course of her life forever.”

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About American Gigolo and Let the Right One In

American Gigolo, a neo-noir crime drama TV series, hit Showtime on September 11, 2022, and ran for only one season. Though the film, on which the series is based, was a commercial and critical success, the homonymous series accumulated mixed or average reviews.

After airing eight episodes, season 1 ended on October 30, 2022, and given the cold reception it got, the chances of American Gigolo getting renewed are low.

Meanwhile, Let the Right One In, led by A Better Life star Demián Bichir, was inspired by John Ajvide Lindqvist’s 2004 novel and ran for one season across 10 episodes on Showtime. Though the Andrew Hinderaker series received praise, critics opined that the original 2008 film adaptation of the book was a better version.