“American Auto” creator Justin Spitzer shared what fans of the workplace comedy would have seen in Season 3 had NBC renewed the series.
“Season 3 of ‘American Auto’ was going to show Katherine Hastings and Payne Motors finally finding success and taking the world by storm,” Spitzer wrote on Twitter Friday shortly after news circulated that the series would not be returning for a third installment.
The cancellation comes week’s after NBC’s last batch of decisions for on-the-bubble shows, which involved canceling “Grand Crew” after two seasons and “Young Rock” after three seasons.
“I’m so sorry we didn’t get to make those episodes, but I’m immensely proud of the 23 episodes of the show we did put out there,” Spitzer continued. “Thank you so much to our outstanding cast, writers, crew and fans.”
Starring Ana Gasteyer as Katherine Hastings and Harriet Dyer as Sadie Ryan, the comedy centers on the employees of a Detroit-based car-making company called Payne Motors after Katherine is called up to become its next CEO, despite having barely any knowledge surrounding cars after coming from the pharmaceutical world.
As expected, the staffers experience some growing pains following the switch, though Spitzer said Season 3 would spotlight Katherine and the other staffers finally hitting their stride.
In addition to Gasteyer and Dyer, the series also featured an ensemble cast of Jon Barinholtz, Tye White, Michael Benjamin Washington, Humphrey Ker and X Mayo. Guest stars for the comedy included Jim O’Heir, Andy Daly, Martha Kelly, Seth Meyers and Ryan Reynolds.
When “American Auto” first premiered in December 2021, it debuted to critical acclaim and a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. While Season 1 averaged a 0.37 demo rating and 2.17 million viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day figures, Season 2 dropped faced a drop in ratings with an average of 0.28 demo ratings and 1.95 million viewers.
