MTV decided to cancel the show a week after one of its stars, Shain Gandee, 21, was found dead 4/1 in his vehicle, along with his uncle and a friend, after going off-roading, or “mudding,” on a remote road in West Virginia. The local sheriff’s office ruled the death was caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. The network had suspended production as it considered whether to continue with the hit series, but has decided not to.
In the wake of the show’s cancellation producer/manager J.P. Williams tells The Hollywood Reporter he plans to continue the show and wants to produce a “Buckwild” film as well.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Williams, who manages most of the cast members and produces the show, took aim at MTV for pulling the plug midway through filming on the second season: “This is the network that has shows about teen pregnancy. They’ll stick by a show that allows you to abandon a child, but a kid dies by accident doing what he does for a living [mudding] and they cancel the show? There’s something that smells of s— here on every level.”
According to Williams, his Beverly Hills-based Parallel Entertainment along with production company Zoo Productions were informed Friday that MTV would be moving forward with the series. At that time, the network had four episodes in the can and was planning to shoot four more plus a special dedicated to Gandee to kick off the season. But Williams says MTV brass followed up Tuesday with a different message for the show’s producers: The network had opted to cancel the series instead.
“There was no explanation,” he says, still bewildered. He adds that the cast, which had planned to come to Los Angeles for the MTV Movie Awards this weekend, had not been informed of the news. See the full Hollywood Reporter story here.
