Coronavirus claims another victim in ‘Florida,’ and now this TV star is out of a job
Coronavirus has claimed another victim in the form of a Florida-set TV show.
Showtime’s “On Becoming A God In Central Florida,” starring Kirsten Dunst, is no more.
Deadline reported Thursday that “OBAGICF” is kaput. Showtime cited COVID-19 as the cause for not being able to “move forward” with production on the new season.
The “Interview with a Vampire” actress played Krystal Stubbs, a water park employee living in a small Orlando-area town in the early ‘90s who finds herself embroiled in some dirty, typical Florida business dealings. It debuted Aug. 25, 2019, and most scenes were actually shot in New Orleans as a stand-in for the Sunshine State.
“Fraud, extortion, blackmail. I’ve got the whole thing,” says Dunst, who won a Golden Globe for the role, in the trailer.
In late September 2019, one month after its season 1 premiere, Showtime ordered a second season of the critically reviewed comedy.
“With such imaginative storytelling and an absolutely inspired lead performance, ‘On Becoming A God In Central Florida’ has been a revelation,” said Jana Winograde, president of Entertainment, Showtime Networks, said in a statement at the time. She called the axed Sunday night show “a wondrous blend of satirical light within the economic and emotional melancholy that confronts so many Americans.”
But that was then and this is, well, now.
What producers could never have expected was coronavirus.
“The pandemic has continued to challenge schedules across the board, and although we have made every effort to reunite the cast and crew for a second season, that has become untenable,” the network said in Thursday’s statement.
This story was originally published October 9, 2020 at 4:24 PM.
