‘How To Die Alone’ Canceled After One Season At Hulu
There will be no second season for How To Die Alone. Hulu has canceled the comedy series, created by and starring Natasha Rothwell, after one season, Deadline has confirmed.
How To Die Alone followed Mel (Rothwell), a broke, fat, Black JFK airport employee who’s never been in love and forgotten how to dream, until an accidental brush with death catapults her on a journey to finally take flight and start living by any means necessary.
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“I am shocked, heartbroken, and frankly, baffled that Onyx has decided not to move forward with a second season of How to Die Alone, Rothwell said in a statement to Deadline. “This is a tough reality to accept because the show is an undeniable critical, creative, and award-winning success.”
How To Die Alone won the Independent Spirit Award for ensemble cast in a new scripted series and received two nominations for the upcoming NAACP Image Awards for outstanding comedy series and outstanding directing for a comedy series.
Rothwell indicated she plans to shop the series. “My team and I are committed to find How To Die Alone a new home because stories like this matter,” Rothwell wrote.
Conrad Ricamora, Jocko Sims and KeiLyn Durrel Jones starred alongside Rothwell and Bashir Salahuddin recurred.
Creator Rothwell and Vera Santamaria served as co-showrunners and executive producers. Desiree Akhavan also served as an executive producer. How to Die Alone was produced by ABC Signature in association with Big Hattie Productions.
Rothwell received a series order from Onyx Collective in 2022 for How To Die Alone. It was released in September 2024.
The cancellation announcement comes one day after we exclusively reported that Hulu would not be proceeding with its comedy pilot Downforce, starring Eve Hewson and Murray Bartlett.
The pass on Downforce follows the October restructuring, which also saw ABC and Hulu merging their drama and comedy teams, with Suzanna Makkos recently named Head of Comedy for ABC Entertainment and Hulu Originals.
Hulu’s other comedy pilot, Phony, starring Connie Britton, remains in contention. As Deadline reported Monday, the Disney streamer is nearing a drama pilot order to a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot starring Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Variety was first to report How To Die Alone‘s cancellation.
See Rothwell’s full statement below.
“I am shocked, heartbroken, and frankly, baffled that Onyx has decided not to move forward with a second season of How to Die Alone. This is a tough reality to accept because the show is an undeniable critical, creative, and award-winning success.
This show took me eight years to bring to life, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned in that time, it’s resilience. I’m not giving up. My team and I are committed to ?nding How to Die Alone a new home because stories like this matter.
Now more than ever, television that ampli?es previously unheard voices, and that prioritizes hiring and casting decisions that accurately re?ect the diversity of the world is essential. Representation isn’t just about visibility—it’s about ensuring that our stories, our existence, and our cultural contributions are not erased.
As Maya Angelou so wisely said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
We are rising. And we are not done.”
Nellie Andreeva contributed to this report.
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