Why was Taskmaster cancelled? America has killed it twice
Search "Taskmaster cancelled" and you'll find plenty of hits — but here's the thing: the show you're probably thinking of is in rude health. The cancellations were both American, and both brutal. Here's the full picture.
The short answer
The UK original has never been cancelled. It's run since 2015, moved from Dave to Channel 4 in 2020, and completed its 21st series — including its 200th episode — on 11 June 2026, with Joanna Page crowned champion. In June 2026, Channel 4 commissioned six further series across three years. What did get killed, twice, were Taskmaster's two attempts to crack America.
Death number one: the Comedy Central remake
In 2018, Comedy Central made a US version with Reggie Watts on the throne and creator Alex Horne retained as his assistant. The contestants were Lisa Lampanelli, Freddie Highmore, Ron Funches, Dillon Francis, and Kate Berlant. Eight episodes aired between 27 April and 18 May 2018 — squeezed into 30-minute slots with adverts — and that was that. One season. No renewal.
Death number two: pulled after a single episode
The second attempt was even shorter. In 2020, The CW bought the actual British show — series 8 and 9, with Greg Davies and Horne — and launched it on Sunday 2 August 2020 at 9pm. The premiere drew a 0.1 rating among adults 18–49 and around 212,000 viewers, one of the network's lowest audiences in months. Within days, The CW yanked it from the schedule and replaced it with Supernatural reruns, later shunting the remaining episodes onto its free CW Seed streaming service.
The timing was exquisite: the axe fell less than a week after Taskmaster won the 2020 BAFTA for best comedy entertainment programme.
So is Taskmaster actually cancelled anywhere?
Not meaningfully. The format has been sold to more than 100 countries, with thriving versions in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and beyond, and full UK episodes now go out worldwide on the official YouTube channel — which has clocked over 300 million hours viewed and 2.2 million subscribers.
And America came around in the end — just not on television. When a live stage version toured Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, and New York in January 2026, tickets sold out in 13 minutes.