Syfy Cancels SANCTUARY After Four Seasons

Syfy has canceled its veteran drama SANCTUARY after four seasons. Craig Engler (Senior Vice President and General Manager, Syfy Digital, Syfy) confirmed the news via his Twitter account yesterday afternoon.

The show's fourth season (10/7/11-12/30/11) averaged 1.262 million viewers and a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 this past fall, posting solid gains from its spring run (997,000 viewers, 0.3 rating among adults 18-49; 4/15/11-6/20/11) but was down slightly from its year-ago fall berth (1.458 million viewers, 0.4 rating among adults 18-49; 10/15/10-12/17/10).

"Sanctuary" and fellow departee "Stargate Universe" (0.958 million, 0.4 in 18-49) nevertheless were Syfy's least-watched scripted offerings in 2011, behind "Warehouse 13" (2.133 million, 0.8 in 18-49), "Eureka" (2.052 million, 0.7 in 18-49), "Haven" (1.846 million, 0.5 in 18-49), "Alphas" (1.845 million, 0.7 in 18-49), "Being Human" (1.489 million, 0.6 in 18-49) and "Merlin" (1.493 million, 0.4 in 18-49).

In Syfy's original series "Sanctuary," the brilliant scientist Dr. Helen Magnus (Amanda Tapping) and her team use their unique combination of instinct, medicine and cutting-edge science and technology to find and aid a clandestine population of beings that the world refuses to believe exist. Shooting almost entirely on green screen, "Sanctuary" was the first television series in North America to use the RED camera exclusively. Its visual effects were nominated for a 2008 Emmy Award.