Those hoping for another season of Masters of Sex can stop as Deadline reports that Showtime has opted not to renew the series for a fifth season. The show recently ended its fourth and now final season on November 10th.
Masters of Sex starred Lizzy Caplan and Michael Sheen as real-life pioneers Virginia Johnson and William Masters as they studied sex and the act of intimacy between different people during the sexual revolution of the 1950s and 60s. The latest season took place in 1968 and led to the ‘swinging 70s’. The finale ended with Masters and Johnson finally getting married and though the people behind the show hoped to tell more of the story, Deadline reports that Showtime executives felt that was a better place to end their story.
Viewership probably had a strong factor as well. Master of Sex’s ratings weren’t too great, averaging less than 800,00 viewers each episode – less than half that of Showtime’s other series Ray Donavan and Shameless. As yet, neither Showtime nor series creator Michelle Ashford has commented on its cancellation.
