# Moonhaven
**Moonhaven** is an American science fiction television series created by Peter Ocko for AMC+ and AMC, set one hundred years in the future in a utopian lunar colony built to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Earth. [AMC Networks](https://www.edgepedia.org/amc-networks) greenlit the series on May 11, 2021, ordering six one-hour episodes, with Ocko serving as showrunner and Deb Spera as a non-writing executive producer in an AMC Studios production.[1](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2021/05/11/new-series-greenlit-for-amc-and-amc-moonhaven/) The first season ran from July 7 to August 4, 2022.[2](https://epguides.com/Moonhaven/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Creator / showrunner | Peter Ocko (*Lodge 49*, *Black Sails*, *Elementary*, *Pushing Daisies*)[1](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2021/05/11/new-series-greenlit-for-amc-and-amc-moonhaven/) |
| Network and run | AMC+ (US); six episodes, July 7 to August 4, 2022[2](https://epguides.com/Moonhaven/) |
| Setting | Year 2201; a 500-square-mile lunar colony guided by an artificial intelligence named Io, preparing an event called the Bridge to send the first Mooners back to Earth[3](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/) |
| Main cast | Emma McDonald (Bella Sway), Dominic Monaghan (Paul Serno), Amara Karan (Indira Mare), Ayelet Zurer (Maite Voss), Joe Manganiello (Tomm Schultz), Kadeem Hardison (Arlo), Yazzmin Newell (Sonda Crux)[2](https://epguides.com/Moonhaven/) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 74 on Metacritic from 10 critic reviews (9 positive, 1 mixed); IMDb user rating 5.7/10 from about 4,200 votes[4](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14192428/ratings/) |
| Renewal and cancellation | Renewed for a six-episode second season in July 2022; canceled in December 2022 as part of AMC Networks cost-cutting[6](https://www.tvline.com/news/moonhaven-cancelled-season-2-amc-plus-1234903483/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story opens in 2201, after Earth has been ravaged by climate change, war, and a cascade of related plagues. A group of settlers, the Mooners, has spent more than a century building a sustainable society on 500 square miles of the Moon, guided by Io, a self-teaching artificial intelligence built by a company called Icon that inspires near-spiritual reverence among the colonists. The season begins two weeks before the Bridge, the event in which the first wave of Mooners will relocate to Earth to help heal the planet.[3](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/)
The protagonist is Bella Sway, a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler who is accused of a crime and marooned in Moonhaven. A skeptic in paradise, she is drawn into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for the colony's achievements and teams with a local detective to stop forces that want to destroy Earth's last hope.[1](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2021/05/11/new-series-greenlit-for-amc-and-amc-moonhaven/) The plot is set in motion by the murder of a young woman named Chill, which connects Bella to the colony's detectives Paul and Arlo and to the politics surrounding the Bridge.[3](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/)
**The colony's culture.** Moonhaven's society is built on a founding principle of interdependence. Couples raise other people's offspring, and children encounter their biological parents only at their own birth and immediately before the parent's death; by obscuring bloodlines and forming unrelated families, the colony encourages citizens to value the collective. The culture blends the Western literary canon, Eastern spirituality without deity worship, and techno-optimism, summarized in the frequently repeated maxim "They are us. We are them."[3](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/)
## Production and broadcast
AMC Networks announced the greenlight on May 11, 2021, with Dan McDermott, president of original programming for AMC Networks and AMC Studios, describing the series as a suspense thriller set a century in the future. Ocko described AMC as a partner in supporting shows that are different from the rest.[1](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2021/05/11/new-series-greenlit-for-amc-and-amc-moonhaven/) The six episodes were titled "The Pilot," "The Detective," "The Envoy," "Mada," "Dreadfeel," and "The Seeker."[2](https://epguides.com/Moonhaven/) The series later streamed on Netflix in the United States from December 17, 2025 to June 17, 2026 under a temporary agreement.[7](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81937395)
## Cancellation
In July 2022, while the first season was airing, AMC+ renewed *Moonhaven* for a six-episode second season planned for 2023. At that time the streamer called it its number one most-watched exclusive series and its most-watched new series behind *Dark Winds*.[6](https://www.tvline.com/news/moonhaven-cancelled-season-2-amc-plus-1234903483/) In early December 2022, two days after AMC Networks announced a restructuring to achieve significant cost reductions, the company reversed the renewal and canceled the series.[8](https://reactormag.com/amc-cancels-the-previously-renewed-moonhaven/) The restructuring included write-downs of up to $475 million, of which up to $400 million was for strategic programming assessments and $75 million for organizational restructuring, along with a 20 percent cut of the US workforce, about 200 people, and the departure of chief executive Christina Spade.[9](https://www.tvinsider.com/1072273/moonhaven-canceled-amc-plus-renewal-reversed/) According to Deadline reporting cited by SYFY Wire, AMC+ had at one point considered renewing the show for two new seasons before settling on a single second-season order.[10](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/amc-reverses-moonhaven-renewal-cancels-season-2)
## Reception
Critics received the first season favorably: the Metacritic Metascore of 74 reflects nine positive and one mixed review out of ten.[4](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/) Reviewers highlighted the show's ideas and world-building. Judy Berman wrote in *Time* that the series poses questions about whether the colony has actually refined human nature or merely held its destructive traits in abeyance, and that it trusts viewers to make their own connections between the lunar colony and present-day cataclysms.[3](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/) Clint Worthington at RogerEbert.com compared its philosophical, high-concept style to the speculative fiction of [Isaac Asimov](https://www.edgepedia.org/isaac-asimov), Robert Heinlein, and Alfred Bester, while noting dialogue that could be silly.[11](https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/moonhaven-amc-plus-tv-review-2022) [The A.V. Club](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-a-v-club)'s review described a series that works as both a mystery and a science fiction allegory, steadily layering clues to the murder and the culture that produced it.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/critic-reviews/) Audience ratings were lower than the critical scores, with an IMDb user rating of 5.7/10 and a Metacritic user score of 5.0.[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14192428/ratings/) • [4](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/)
## References
1. [New Series Greenlit for AMC+ and AMC, "Moonhaven", AMC Global Media, May 11, 2021](https://www.amcglobalmedia.com/2021/05/11/new-series-greenlit-for-amc-and-amc-moonhaven/)
2. [Moonhaven (a Titles & Air Dates Guide), epguides.com](https://epguides.com/Moonhaven/)
3. [Judy Berman, "Moonhaven Is the Smart, If Slightly Silly, Sci-Fi Thriller You've Been Waiting For", Time, July 7, 2022](https://time.com/6194202/moonhaven-review-amc-plus/)
4. [Moonhaven Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/)
5. [Moonhaven (TV Series 2022) Ratings, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14192428/ratings/)
6. [Vlada Gelman, "Moonhaven Cancelled At AMC+, Reversing Season 2 Renewal", TVLine, December 3, 2022](https://www.tvline.com/news/moonhaven-cancelled-season-2-amc-plus-1234903483/)
7. [Everything you need to know about "Moonhaven" on Netflix USA, New On Netflix USA](https://usa.newonnetflix.info/info/81937395)
8. [Molly Templeton, "AMC Cancels the Previously Renewed Moonhaven", Reactor, December 5, 2022](https://reactormag.com/amc-cancels-the-previously-renewed-moonhaven/)
9. [Dan Clarendon, "AMC+ Cancels 'Moonhaven' After Renewing the Sci-Fi Drama for Season 2", TV Insider, December 4, 2022](https://www.tvinsider.com/1072273/moonhaven-canceled-amc-plus-renewal-reversed/)
10. [Matthew Jackson, "AMC cancels acclaimed sci-fi streaming series, months after renewing it for Season 2", SYFY Wire, December 5, 2022](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/amc-reverses-moonhaven-renewal-cancels-season-2)
11. [Clint Worthington, "AMC+'s Moonhaven Has Intrigue and Sci-Fi Gobbledygook Galore", RogerEbert.com, July 6, 2022](https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming/moonhaven-amc-plus-tv-review-2022)
12. [Moonhaven critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/tv/moonhaven/critic-reviews/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Genre and subject-scripted series › Science fiction television series › Space opera and space adventure series*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license