Apple TV+ Cancels Swagger After 2 Seasons
The shot clock has run out on Swagger. Apple TV+ has cancelled the basketball drama inspired by NBA superstar Kevin Durant's experiences after two seasons, series creator Reggie Rock Bythewood announced on Thursday. Swagger centered on #1 ranked 14-year-old basketball prodigy Jace (Isaiah Hill) in the DMV — D.C., Maryland, Virginia — the newest recruit to a team coached by former rising star Ike Edwards (O'Shea Jackson Jr.). The series aired 18 episodes since debuting in 2021 and was critically acclaimed: the first season scored a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and Swagger season 2 was a 2023 Tribeca Film Festival selection.
"What an amazing adventure. In our two seasons, we have launched careers, disrupted genre, brought forth humanity through our characters, told stories we care deeply about, revolutionized the way to shoot basketball and had fun," Bythewood wrote in a message posted to Instagram. "Apple, while you are not ordering a season three, I made the show I wanted to make. Thank you for that. Cast, writers and crew, you have my gratitude. Walk off the set with Swagger."
He added: "For our FAMbase, you lifted us in ways we could have never imagined. To the industry, don't take your foot off the gas. Keep telling our stories."
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Swagger is the latest series to be cancelled at Apple TV: the streamer recently axed The Afterparty after two seasons and cancelled both City on Fire and Suspicion after single seasons in August.
The sports drama series explores the world of youth basketball, and the players, their families and coaches who walk the fine line between dreams and ambition, and opportunism and corruption. Off the court, the show reveals what it's like to grow up in America. The cast includes Shinelle Azoroh, Academy Award nominee Quvenzhané Wallis, Tristan Mack Wilds, Caleel Harris, Tessa Ferrer, James Bingham, Solomon Irama, Ozie Nzeribe, Jason Rivera, Christina Jackson, Sean Baker, with season 2 additions Orlando Jones and Shannon Brown.
The eight-episode second season sees teammates Jace, Phil, Nick, Musa, and Drew enter their senior year of high school at Cedar Cove Prep, a predominantly white institution where wealthy board members control the entire operation from the hiring of faculty to the enrollment of students. It is a school of power and influence. For all of their academic success, their basketball program has not been competitive until Emory Lawson, the athletic director, managed to acquire the Swagger players. Almost overnight, Cedar Cove's basketball program becomes elite, attracting the attention of Alonzo Powers from Gladiator Sneakers. Games are attended by top college scouts from the nation and are live-streamed for thousands of fans. With winning comes scrutiny and the players find themselves under a microscope as they vie for a national high school championship.
Everything is going right in the life of Jace Carson and his family. Jenna is renting a house in a residential neighborhood and her cosmetic sales business is booming. Then, a video surfaces that threatens to destroy it all. It is surveillance footage of Coach Warwick, Crystal's former coach, being beat down in an alley. The attackers are masked but Coach Warwick believes he has found evidence proving the Swagger players were involved. As this speculation reaches the public eye and social media, the bond of brotherhood the players have built is tested. Their once promising futures are in jeopardy.
Bythewood served as executive producer with Durant, Brian Grazer and Rich Kleiman. The series is produced for Apple TV+ by Imagine Television Studios, Boardroom, CBS Studios and Undisputed Cinema. All episodes of Swagger are available to stream now on Apple TV+.
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