Revolution loads up the wagon and sadly leaves Austin Credit: Image courtesy of NBC

Bad news for Austin’s film and TV professionals: Sci-fi drama Revolution, which has been shooting around Austin for the last year, has been cancelled.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news today that NBC is dropping the Warner Bros. production at the end of the second season. The post-post-apocalyptic drama, created by JJ Abrams and starring Billy Burke, Tracy Spiridakos, and Giancarlo Esposito, has always suffered from soft ratings. However, they got worse after it was moved from Mondays following The Voice to Wednesdays.

It’s obviously particularly bad news for Austin’s film and TV industry. The production decamped from its season one shooting location in Wilmington, North Carolina to Austin last year – in part because of Texas’ production incentives.

This is the second show Austin has lost in a year. In 2013, ABC Family pulled the plug on The Lying Game, a tenant at Austin Studios. At the time, there was a sense of relief that, well, at least there was Revolution to pick up the slack. This time around, there are rumors that (in a bizzare twist) Austin could become the new home to ABC’s Nashville.

This article appears in May 9 • 2014.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.