NBC made its first cancellation decisions for the 2026-27 season, declining to renew both the sophomore medical drama Brilliant Minds and the freshman cheerleading comedy Stumble. The moves leave Law & Order and The Hunting Party still on the bubble, while The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins was looking good for renewal with another shorter order.
Brilliant Minds, which stars Zachary Quinto, had already been pulled from the schedule in February to make room for two-hour The Voice episodes on Monday. The show’s final six episodes will be released on May 27. For NBC, the decision lands on the network’s lowest rated drama on linear, one that also posted steep double-digit year-to-year declines.
Stumble, headlined by Jenn Lyon, ran into a harder road from the start. The show scored 82% with critics and 96% with viewers on Rotten Tomatoes, but it premiered on Fridays behind Reba McEntire’s multi-camera sitcom Happy’s Place and was scheduled in different ways as NBC tried to get it in front of more people. Even with that support, it had been on the bubble for months after a rough ratings start and several scheduling moves.
The two cancellations show how NBC is drawing a line between shows with some audience goodwill and shows with clearer performance problems. The Hunting Party, starring Melissa Roxburgh, had its odds boosted by Season 1’s strong launch on Netflix in the U.S., while Law & Order still lagged behind One Chicago and SVU in performance. Law & Order itself launched in 2022, after NBC canceled the mothership in 2010 and brought it back 12 years later.
For now, NBC has answered the first question of the 2026-27 season: the network is willing to move quickly on weak performers, even when they come with recognizable names and decent reviews. The next call will be whether the remaining bubble shows survive long enough to get a second life.
