Apple Abruptly Cancels Rob McElhenney’s ‘Mythic Quest’

It’s game over for Ian Grimm.

Next week, AppleTV+ will release the reworked Season Four finale of Rob McElhenney’s workplace comedy Mythic Quest that will now serve as the show’s final episode following its unexpected and unusual cancellation. Apple announced the end of the series yesterday evening, less than three weeks after the streamer released the original Mythic Quest Season Four finale and followed it up with the spin-off miniseries Side Quest, and the show’s executive producers, Megan Ganz, David Hornsby and McElhenney quickly sent a statement on the shocking plug-pull to Variety, writing:

“Endings are hard. But after four incredible seasons, Mythic Quest is coming to a close. We’re so proud of the show and the world we got to build — and deeply grateful to every cast and crew member who poured their heart into it. To all our fans, thank you for playing with us. To our partners at Apple, thank you for believing in the vision from the very beginning. Because endings are hard, with Apple’s blessing we made one final update to our last episode — so we could say goodbye, instead of just game over.”

The original Mythic Quest Season Four finale, “Heaven and Hell,” aired on March 26th and — spoilers ahead for anyone who is just now getting into McElhenney’s second great comedy show right at the end of it all — the episode featured a long-awaited romantic moment between McElhenney’s character Ian and his longtime creative partner Poppy, played by Charlotte Nicdao. While the original ending to the season closed with the two characters standing in stunned silence after their first kiss, McElhenney and his team will seek to give their sitcom world and their loyal fans more closure with this unusual revised episode release.

Everything about this cancelation and reconstructed finale is extremely strange, especially seeing as Mythic Quest boasts some of the highest critical reviews of any series on AppleTV+ and the streamer recently revealing that they lose roughly $1 billion per year. Even still, McElhenney and his team will have the rare opportunity to end a canceled series on good terms, which is more than most shows get when their time comes between seasons. 

And, hey, in this age of constant reboots when creators can shop around their discontinued shows to countless streaming platforms, never rule out the possibility of Mythic Quest eventually scoring an extra life.