‘Woke’: Why did this top Hulu show get shut down for a third time?
Many top shows have had to get delayed due to COVID-19, and the show Woke from streaming service Hulu is no exception. However, it seems like the cast and crew of this TV series has been going through it more than most, as the set was shut down not just once, but a total of three times last week due to positive COVID-19 tests. What is happening on the set, and when are they filming again? Let’s look at the details here.
Three shutdowns
This is far from the first show that had to get shut down due to COVID. What has been going on on the set of Woke that has led to the shutdown of one of the top shows from the Hulu streaming service? We hope that the cast and crew have been taking the necessary precautions on set and following COVID protocols, but it seems like fans of the Woke TV show may have to wait some more time before they get a new season.
Variety reported that the TV series, which had been filming the second season in Atlanta, Georgia, was first shut down last Tuesday, when a person who tested positive for COVID-19 was in Zone A, which means that it was in an area where those who were on the set included performers that did not have masks on. However, the show resumed filming on Wednesday, which ended up not being the best idea for the cast and crew.
On Thursday, someone else in the cast and crew received another positive COVID-19 test, which caused production and filming of the top shows on Hulu to stop filming once again. Woke ended up going back to production on Monday, but on Wednesday, there ended up being three more positive tests from the cast and crew, with two of those tests being yet again in Zone A, which possibly means there could be more positive tests.
When will filming continue again?
It’s tragic that the filming for one of the top shows on Hulu has been halted due to COVID-19, and we’re hoping for speedy recoveries from those in the cast and crew who were tested positive for the virus. Since the third shut down, production and filming of the Woke TV series, which is co-produced by Sony and ABC studios, has been suspended indefinitely. As of now, it is unclear when filming will be back in production again.
This leaves fans of Woke obviously very upset. At this point, we’re not sure when we’re going to get new episodes of the TV series, but we hope that filming can start up once again as soon as possible. One source expressed that right now, “actors are being put on flights home”. Variety also reported that “Representatives from Sony, Disney and Hulu did not immediately respond to a request for comment”.
Just last week, a source expressed that COVID protocols on set have been “less than stellar — and porous”. The series began filming in June, and the source also shared that the new rules of shorter days on set have been ignored by the cast and crew, and the source had worked a few fourteen-hour days. As of Thursday, the source shared that “of the show’s eight-episode second season, only two episodes have been fully shot”.
Before production began being halted last week, the final day of shooting was scheduled for this week. The end-date ended up being pushed a week later, but now, due to these unpredictable circumstances, it’s unclear when the show will finish filming its second season. Of course, this is far from the first TV show that has been dealing with filming issues due to the coronavirus.
Other TV series that had to stop production recently include The Offer, American Horror Story, Bridgerton, House of the Dragon, Westworld, and more. Netflix announced yesterday that any production personnel in Zone A in America will be required to get a vaccine, and Sean Penn even said that he would not return to the set of Gaslit until everyone in the cast and crew is vaccinated.
