‘Tis the season! After an overwhelming effort to bring Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist back following an exciting second season, Roku announced that they would be releasing a Christmas special for the hit show.
In June 2021, creator Austin Winsberg took to social media to announce that the musical series would not be moving forward after its season 2 finale.
“Okay. Here we are. The news is out. NBC/Peacock have decided not to go forward with another season. We can discuss that later. But right now I refuse to believe the show is dead. There is too much love and goodwill and the fan base is incredible. Now here is what I need,” the showrunner tweeted at the time, before asking fans to spread their love for Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist online.
The show’s lead Jane Levy, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Zoey, also asked viewers not to give up on a future for the series.
“Fans of Zoey’s! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support these last two years. This show means so much to me,” the actress tweeted in June 2021. “If you want it to continue please write about why we (the world) needs a season three using the hashtag #savezoeysplaylist — I love you!”
Three months later, Roku announced that they would be taking on the Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist revival movie as their first original feature-length film.
“Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist is the kind of show that doesn’t just entertain people, it speaks to them,” Colin Davis, Roku’s head of original scripted programming, said in a press release in September 2021. “The show has a healing power about it, which is brought to life by the incredibly talented cast through music and dance. That connection with the audience is what makes bringing a holiday-themed film like Zoey to life with the original cast so special.”
All credit for the Christmas-themed project went to the fans and their diligent efforts on social media.
“The fans were passionate and unwavering in their support, and their perseverance paid off. There’s no better encore than a Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist movie on Roku available to stream for the holidays,” Scott Herbst, the Head of Development at Lionsgate, and Lee Hollin, the Head of Current Programming at Lionsgate, said in a statement following the revival news.
Scroll down for all the info about the plans for Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas and the future of the series:
The holiday-themed movie will be available on the Roku Channel for free in the U.S. Fans will also get to relive their favorite moments when the first two seasons of the show are released later this fall. Filming for Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas will be starting in Vancouver, Canada in September 2021. Sergei Bachlakov/NBC
Levy, Skylar Astin, Alex Newell, John Clarence Stewart, Andrew Leeds, Alice Lee, Michael Thomas Grant, Kapil Talwalkar, David St. Louis, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Gallagher and Bernadette Peters have all signed on to film the Christmas movie. Sergei Bachlakov/NBC/Lionsgate
The season 2 finale ended with a shocking cliffhanger when Max seemingly got the same powers as Zoey when he heard her sing a heart song to him. At the time, Winsberg teased the "possibilities for what can happen next" now that the main couple are both in the same predicament. "By giving Max his own insight into Zoey's world, maybe the way that he views musical numbers and maybe his takeaway from those musical numbers could be different than hers, or maybe by him getting the powers he can then help Zoey with her emotional procedural stories in different ways," the creator noted to EW in May 2021. He added: "There are lots of avenues that we can take by giving him the powers as well. There could be a fun role reversal for her too because she's always been the one who's had to figure it out so it's kind of nice to have her be the one who maybe has a deeper insight now." The revival movie will be picking up where season 2 left off, so fans will get all the answers to their questions in real time. Sergei Bachlakov/NBC/Lionsgate
After the revival news, TVLine reported that if the movie performs well, Roku would consider continuing the series with more episodes. Sergei Bachlakov/NBC/Lionsgate
In the first trailer, released on November 18, Jane takes control of the family's plans for the holidays — their first without Mitch, telling Max, "It's tough trying to hold on so tight to some memory." Sergei Bachlakov/NBC/Lionsgate
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