The cancellation axe has come down at Fox, and The Cleaning Lady and Alert: Missing Persons Unit won’t be returning.
Both series wrapped their most recent seasons in late May and early June, with the network holding off on renewal decisions until after they aired. Now, it’s official: The Cleaning Lady ends after four seasons, and Alert after three.
The decision isn’t a shocker. Alongside Accused and The Great North, the two canceled dramas ranked near the bottom of Fox’s 2024-25 season in terms of ratings. Fox had explored potential ways to keep Alert alive, even considering retooling it due to interest in Scott Caan’s lead performance and the show’s shift to a buddy-cop format. But ultimately, numbers didn’t support a renewal.
The Cleaning Lady faced a major shift going into its fourth season, after the tragic passing of co-lead Adan Canto. Despite a creative overhaul and a loyal fan base, the show struggled to regain its momentum and left viewers with an unresolved finale.
Alert, a procedural centered on the Philadelphia Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit, starred Scott Caan and Dania Ramirez as exes working side-by-side to bring missing persons home. Adeola Role, Ryan Broussard, and Alisha-Marie Ahamed rounded out the cast, with Carla Kettner as showrunner.
The Cleaning Lady, led by Élodie Yung, followed Thony De La Rosa, a former surgeon turned crime-cleaning doctor-for-hire after witnessing a murder. Based on an Argentine format, the show was praised for being the first broadcast drama led by a Southeast Asian actress and for its raw, emotional storytelling. It also starred Martha Millan, Kate Del Castillo, and Santiago Cabrera.
Meanwhile, over at Prime Video, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino’s Étoile has quietly taken its final bow. Despite a two-season order out the gate, the ballet dramedy won’t return for a second act.
Étoile debuted in April with an ambitious premise—two ballet companies in New York and Paris joining forces to save their institutions. Featuring Luke Kirby, Charlotte Gainsbourg, and a globe-spanning cast of dancers, the series had all the markings of prestige TV: lush visuals, international settings, and acclaimed showrunners. But it struggled to find its audience.
Despite strong reviews, Étoile didn’t make a splash on Nielsen charts or Prime Video’s internal Top 10, dropping off shortly after release. With a high production cost and limited viewership, Prime Video opted to pull the plug.
The show’s finale left several storylines open-ended, including a romantic cliffhanger that now may never be resolved.
These cancellations come as networks and streamers continue to tighten belts across the board, weighing performance against production costs more than ever. While both The Cleaning Lady and Alert carved out passionate followings, and Étoile aimed to bring the beauty of ballet to TV audiences, none could overcome the rising bar of performance expectations in today’s content-heavy landscape.