It’s not over yet for 50 Cent’s ABC legal drama, For Life.
According to Variety, 50 Cent, aka Curtis Jackson, has shopped the series to IMDb TV, with the Amazon-owned streaming service expected to buy a third season of the series. The series was intially canceled by ABC after its second season.
The expectation for IMDb TV to order a third season is strong since the streaming service has already bought the streaming rights to the first and second seasons. As Variety reports, even though For Life was not a juggernaut for live audience ratings, the series did very well with audiences who preferred to stream the episodes on Hulu. Jackson, who was the mastermind behind the new deal, believes the deal with IMDb TV will expand the series’ streaming audience.
If the series is more suited to streaming audiences, its popularity will give viewers more opportunity to learn about the real-life story of Isaac Wright Jr., who became a lawyer while incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. He was able to gain his freedom by litigating his own case and, after leaving prison, became a lawyer for others. The series was among the 2021 TV Academy Honors recipients for “elevat[ing] complex issues facing society.” Other recipients alongside For Life included The Daily Show and I May Destroy You.
While For Life might get a new life at IMDb TV, other canceled ABC shows might not be so lucky, For Life was canceled by the network in May, along with mixed-ish, Rebel, Call Your Mother, and American Housewife. In particular, Kenya Barris’ mixed-ish getting canceled has been part of Barris’ creative output restructuring, including Barris’ recent high-profile break from Netflix. However, while Barris is experiencing some creative growing pains, he is also working with 50 Cent to produce Netflix series The 50th Law, based on Robert Greene and Jackson’s book about a young hustler who learns life lessons from history’s most famous philosophers and leaders.
Meanwhile, Wright has thrown his hat into the NYC mayoral campaign ring with promises to “address the racial, economic, environmental, and educational injustices that plague our city’s institutions.” 50 Cent endorsed Wright, calling him “the real deal.” Wright’s campaign began December 2020.
