Instinct's Alan Cumming Weighs In on Cancellation, Being First-Ever Openly Gay Lead on a Network Drama

Ryan Schwartz

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Alan Cumming has taken to social media to eulogize CBS’ Instinct, which on Friday was cancelled after two seasons. In a heartfelt post, the Good Wife alum pays tribute to his co-star, Bojana Novakovic, and acknowledges the significance of playing the first-ever openly gay lead character on a broadcast network drama.

“So the word is out. @InstinctCBS will not be returning for a third season,” he writes. “Almost exactly three years ago I was sent a galley copy of a book by [James Patterson] and [Howard Roughan] and then I met the showrunner [Michael Rauch] who was to adapt it for TV and I jumped in… And while I’m sorry I won’t be getting to play with [Bojana Novakovic] and the rest of the amazing cast and crew again, I’m grateful for two seasons of fun and gore and feeling like a dandy thanks to [Dan Lawson]’s costumes, and selfies with corpses and vegan options at catering and [my dog] Lala’s occasional guest appearances in the police station when she got bored in her basket beneath my desk.

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“I’m also proud to have played the first [ever] leading character in a U.S. network drama who is gay,” he continues. “Yes, really. Because of @InstinctCBS millions of people will have seen a same sex marriage portrayed for the first time and I hope we changed and opened some minds in the process.”

Thus far this season, Instinct has been averaging 3.4 million total viewers and just over a 0.3 demo rating — or exactly half of what its freshman run did (airing mostly in-season). Its burnoff continues tonight at 9/8c with back-to-back episodes, followed by its season/series finale next Sunday, Aug. 25.

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So the word is out. @instinctcbs will not be returning for a third season. Almost exactly three years ago I was sent a galley copy of a book by @jamespattersonbooks and @howardroughan and then I met the show runner @mbr34 who was to adapt it for TV and I jumped in. And I’m still in, for two more episodes tomorrow and the last one ever next Sunday. And while I’m sorry I won’t be getting to play with @bojnovak and the rest of the amazing cast and crew again, I’m grateful for two seasons of fun and gore and feeling like a dandy thanks to @danlawsonstyle’s costumes, and selfies with corpses and vegan options at catering and Lala’s occasional guest appearances in the police station when she got bored in her basket beneath my desk. I’m also proud to have played the first ever leading character in a US network drama who is gay. Yes, really. Because of @instinctcbs millions of people will have seen a same sex marriage portrayed for the first time and I hope we changed and opened some minds in the process.

A post shared by Alan Cumming (@alancummingsnaps) on Aug 17, 2019 at 2:10pm PDT

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