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Summary
Imagine how different the world of television would have been if James Cameron had gotten the opportunity to create his own sci-fi TV series. Well, it turns out he already did. He created one in the early 2000s — which, however, got canceled after just two seasons and almost became forgotten over time.
Dark Angelon Fox remains the first and only TV show created by Cameron (unless he decides to make a miraculous re-entry into television after orin between hisAvatarsequels). Thesci-fiseries, which marked Jessica Alba’s breakthrough, deserved more time and room for experimentation, but sadly, it didn’t get the chance.
What IsDark AngelAbout?
At the time of its release in 2000,Dark Angelwasset in the dystopian near futureof 2019 in Seattle. The show revolves around Max Guevara, a genetically enhanced super-soldier. She escapes from a secret military facility as a child and tries to lead a normal life. However, she faces a series of challenges as she tries to avoid being caught by government agents while searching for her siblings, who were all scattered to different places after their escape.
Sci-fi action drama
2 seasons, 43 episodes
Years Active
July 19, 2025 – July 09, 2025
Max’s main adversary is the secret U.S. government institution called Manticore, the place she escaped from. Manticore was responsible forcreating super-soldiers, raising and training them to become assassins for covert missions. A group of these runaway young soldiers detonates an electromagnetic pulse weapon, destroying communication systems in the U.S. and plunging the country into recovery. Ten years after this event, Manticore is still determined to reclaim its lost assets, while the escaped super-soldiers, known as X-5s, attempt to reunite.
What MadeDark AngelSpecial?
Signature Cameron At His Best
Just by glancing at the plot, themes, and visual aesthetic, it’s evident that this cyberpunk show has all the makings of a bona fideJames Cameron classic. Jessica Alba’s Max is another addition to Cameron’s array of strong female characters, much likeSarah Connor fromTerminatoror Ellen Ripley inAliens. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, there was a wave of strong female-led shows likeXena: Warrior PrincessandBuffy the Vampire Slayer, andDark Angelwas very much a part of this wave. The mangaBattle Angel Alitawas a major influence on Cameron for the show, and he later went on to produce an adaptation of the manga as a full-length film.
Dark Angeldrew comparisons from many critics and fans to older gothic works likeFrankenstein. In fact, Max’s genetic engineering often led to her being labeled as a postmodern feministFrankenstein’s monster. The show also displayed influences from classics likeBlade Runner, while maintaining a distinct flavor of its own. The timing of the show also perfectly aligned with the hype around Y2K at the start of the millennium. The event inspired the electromagnetic pulse that collapses the world and sends it into a unique dystopian situation in the story.
Why WasDark AngelCanceled?
It’s a showbiz convention that everything James Cameron touches turns to gold, and that almost seemed to be the case withDark Angelin its 22-episode first season. The series made its presence felt on the award circuit, especially turningJessica Albainto the star she is today. Moreover,Dark Angelaveraged nearly 10.4 million viewers per episode. But this wasn’t the case with the second season.
While Season 1 had a good balance betweenself-contained episodesand a larger Manticore arc, Season 2 may have gotten a little too ambitious for its own good. At first, it was easy for viewers to jump in at any point, but the introduction of new plot elements, like failed genetic experiments, a “chosen one” narrative for Max, and a deeper Manticore backstory, made it all too complicated. This led to a drop in the ratings for the show, and the switch from Tuesday night to Friday night airtime didn’t help either. In the end, the show began to average around 6 million viewers per episode when Fox decided to cancel it.
Dark Angel’sFailure Was Inevitable
Too Big For A TV Show Of That Era
In hindsight,Dark Angel’s cancelation may have been unavoidable. Despite a popular and successful first season, it was still hard to sustain for Fox. The two-hour premiere episode had a budget of around $10 million, and Season 2’s individual episodic budget was around $1.3 million each. The studio had to treat the show like a marquee movie project, which meant going all out on promotions with trailers, billboards, and marketing.
Even Cameron and the show’s co-creator, Charles H. Eglee, were a little skeptical about the show’s possibility of becoming huge. While they had differing concerns about going over budget, the creators had always been on thin ice with this project. Cameron shared his thoughts ina 2001 interview with theSun Journal:
If it flies, it flies. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t … If people connect with it, which I hope they will, fine. If we don’t find an audience, we deserve to be off the air. It’s that simple.
Legacy Of Cameron’s Dark Angel
AsDark Angelmarks the 25th year since its premiere, it deserves another look from James Cameron fans, as well as sci-fi aficionados in general. It was adapted into a video game of the same name, which came out in 2002. The storyline also continued with a series of original novels written by Max Allan Collins. Possibly,Dark Angelmay not have been so short-lived had it come out in apost-Game of Throneseraof TV.
