‘Duster’ canceled, ending J.J. Abrams and Josh Holloway’s ‘Lost’ reunion

J.J. Abrams‘ and Josh Holloway‘s Duster has unfortunately bit the dust.

The star and creator’s first big reunion since Lost aired its finale 15 years ago has been canceled by HBO Max after only one season, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed. That leaves The Pitt as the newly re-rechristened HBO Max’s only currently running original series.

“While HBO Max will not be moving forward with a second season of Dusterwe are so grateful to have had the chance to work with the amazingly talented co-creators J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan, and our partners at Bad Robot and Warner Bros. Television,” the streamer announced in a statement shared with EW. “We are tremendously proud of this series led by Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson and we thank them along with our cast and crew for their incredible collaboration and partnership.”

Warner Bros. Television, which co-produced the period crime drama, shared, “J.J. Abrams and LaToya Morgan delivered a thrilling, multi-dimensional crime drama in Dusterwith textured characters that took the audience back to the 1970s in a new and innovative way. Those characters were brought to life by a wonderful team led by Josh, Rachel, and an extremely talented ensemble cast, along with an expert crew behind the scenes. We are incredibly proud of the show, and while we wish this journey could continue, we are thankful to our partners at HBO Max for the opportunity to tell Jim and Nina’s story.”

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Duster was announced back in 2021. Both Holloway and Abrams had been busy since Lost went out with a controversial bangwith the former snagging main roles in series like Intelligence and Colonyand the latter helming films like Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Wars: The Force Awakensand executive producing series like Castle Rock and Lovecraft Country.

The series starred Rachel Hilson (Love, Victor) as FBI agent Nina Hayes, the first Black woman to be staffed by the Bureau, and Holloway as Jim Ellis, the every-man-for-himself getaway driver she recruits to help take down a vicious crime boss (Keith David).

Despite strong critical reviews, the series failed to recruit a loyal enough audience to keep its neck off the chopping block.

Holloway described Abrams’ initial call about partnering back up on the series as a “Jerry Maguire moment.”

“This concept is phenomenal — he just opened the conversation with, ‘You’re a fixer for the mafia in 1972,'” he told EW in May. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, my mind just blew up.’ There’s nothing like it on TV right now. It is like Pulp Fiction meets Starsky & Hutch.”

This was Holloway’s first reunion with Abrams since Lost ended, but it wasn’t his first collaboration with a former Lost boss. He worked with the science fiction series’ co-showrunner Carlton Cuse on alien-invasion drama Colony for three seasons.

Reflecting on his working relationships with both Cuse and Abrams, Holloway shared, “I think they call me because they know I have a very strong work ethic. I work hard and so they can trust me to carry something. We’ve worked together, we’ve done big things. So we’re like, ‘Okay, we can work together again.’ And I love that I have that relationship with both of them.”