Deadline announced this morning that HBO has decided to cancel “Luck” after one of the horses in the series died. The TV show featuring A-list actors like Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, was meant to bring the world of horse racing and gambling back to the viewers’ minds, but the injuries suffered by the horses during the shooting of the series determined producers to put an end to the broadcast.
David Milch and Michael Mann, the producers of “Luck”, released a public statement on Wednesday saying that they have decided to put an end to the TV series. Based on their statements, all the safety laws were observed in order to make sure that the horses will stay safe during the shooting of the racing sequences. Unfortunately, one of the horses died and producers decided that it was best to stop the series before other similar accidents took place.
This is not the first horse death that the crew was forced to handle since the beginning of the series. The majority of the horses that were used for the shooting of the races were very old and sick; therefore, many other animals died since the beginning of season 1 last year.
Milch and Mann were filming the second episode of season 2 when the horse died. According to their declarations, none of the two episodes that were recently filmed will air on television, whereas the final two episodes of season 1 will be broadcasted as scheduled. The series was not as successful as producers have expected. The two airings of the pilot episode managed to draw a modest audience of 1.1 million viewers, but numbers decreased to 686,000 viewers in recent months.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) were very pleased to hear that the producers of the show have finally decided to stop the series. The organization has repeatedly asked Milch and Mann to use stock racing footage instead of “old, unfit and dragged horses”, but the two producers did not pay much attention to their requests. Even if the series has been cancelled, PETA is determined to revenge the horse’s death; thus, the organization will investigate the incident to determine whether charges have to be brought against producers or not.
