Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham’s “A League of Their Own” series on Amazon’s Prime Video will return for a shortened final season of four episodes, according to multiple reports.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amazon made the decision after months of negotiations that included a reduction of the show’s licensing fee by Sony, who owns the rights to the movie. The streaming arm of the retail and tech company sought to lower the budget and production costs for a second season. Even a movie was considered for the show’s conclusion, according to THR sources.
Co-creator of the show Will Graham tweeted in response to the reports, adding onto a thread he began earlier Tuesday morning.
“Just to answer the questions: The stuff that came out today is a leak and it isn’t official, which is why we aren’t saying anything,” he wrote. “So if you want to see more episodes or mores seasons of this show, now is your moment. People are listening.”
Amazon declined to comment.
“The audience is domestic, but our understanding is that it’s very big. It has outperformed many other shows that have been renewed,” Graham wrote before the reports. “Journalists, please stop reinforcing the narrative that POC/Queer shows are inherently niche or small if you don’t have data.”
Co-created by Jacobson and Graham, the first season of the show delved into the diverse history of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League made famous in Penny Marshall’s original film starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks and Madonna.
Carson Shaw (Jacobson) takes a risk and leaves home to try out for the AAGPBL while her husband is away at war. On the way to tryouts, she meets Jo De Luca (Melanie Field) and Gretta Gil (D’Arcy Carden), who become her teammates on the Rockford Peaches. Zooming in on that team, the show portrays a diverse experience of queer baseball players while alternating between their story and the narrative of Max Chapman (Chanté Adams), a Black woman who attends tryouts but is turned away due to her race.
Other key characters include Max’s best friend Clance Morgan (Gbemisola Ikumelo), Lupe García (Roberta Colindrez), Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack), Esti González (Priscilla Delgado), Maybelle Fox (Molly Ephraim), Shirley Cohen (Kate Berlant) and Coach Dove Porter (Nick Offerman).
Graham (“Daisy Jones and the Six”) and Jacobson (“Broad City”) began working on the show in 2018, recruiting former members of the AAGPBL to advise on the show, one of whom Maybelle Blair, came out as gay on the show’s press tour at the age of 95.
The first season of the show premiered August 12, 2022, building a 94% critic score and an 87% viewership score on Rotten Tomatoes.