Moving through Ryan Murphy’s universe can take us from saccharine dramas to historical reimaginings drenched in glamour or horror, passing through stories that do not merely border on the bizarre but gleefully dive straight into it. Whatever the genre, the possibility of planting both feet firmly in camp is never off the table; in some ways, that sums up The Beauty. This series tackles relevant and timely subjects, including our obsession with appearance and the excesses of the beauty industry, but does so with such inconsistency that it becomes difficult to praise and equally unfair to dismiss.

Now, apparently, we may never have the opportunity to discover whether it could have found its balance. The Beauty has not been officially canceled by FX, but its cast has been released from their contracts, and there are currently no plans for a second season. In the careful language of streaming, the series is “on pause.” In practical terms, it is unlikely to continue.

In the increasingly cautious language of streaming, this means that the production has been placed “on pause.” In practical terms, Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall, Ashton Kutcher, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and the rest of the cast are free to accept other jobs, with no obligation to return. If FX decides to revive the series in the future, it will have to renegotiate its contracts and somehow coordinate all those schedules again.

The news is especially frustrating because The Beauty did not end as a limited series. Its 11-episode first season concluded with Cooper undergoing another mysterious transformation, Byron surrounded by lawsuits and a struggle for control of his company, while the Beauty itself was already beginning to escape any possibility of containment.

Evan Peters, in fact, spoke openly about the story continuing after the finale aired in March. According to the actor, the cliffhanger prepared the ground for a second season that could explore, on a much larger scale, a world in which the Beauty had been unleashed. There was, therefore, a story envisioned for the next chapter, even though FX had never officially confirmed that it would be produced.

What makes the situation even more curious is that The Beauty arrived surrounded by impressive numbers. Its trailer accumulated nearly 190 million views across social media and became the most-watched trailer in FX history. The series also assembled a huge cast, filmed internationally, and featured action sequences and extensive visual effects. The problem is that all this ambition probably made the production too expensive for an audience that failed to match the size of the investment.

A small opening still exists because Ryan Murphy’s series can remain dormant for years before being revived. But Murphy is also involved in countless other projects, while the actors from The Beauty are beginning to move on with their own schedules. The more time passes, the harder it will become to reunite this cast.

For now, FX is avoiding the word “cancellation,” but every sign points toward the same outcome. Is this the industry’s new strategy for dealing with misguided decisions? Simply allowing a series to disappear into streaming limbo?

The “pause” imposed on The Beauty without revealing what happened to its protagonist reminds me of HBO Max’s cancellation of Raised by Wolves. Both series were given enormous creative freedom. If The Beauty transforms people according to an ideal of physical perfection only to make them literally explode afterward, Raised by Wolves had human beings turned into trees, a flying serpent that was part organic creature and part machine, and even ended with its antihero floating upside down after apparently being possessed or controlled by the entity inhabiting the planet. Do you see how difficult it is even to explain?

HBO Max did not even attempt to resolve the madness Raised by Wolves had created for itself. FX, probably because The Beauty is a Ryan Murphy creation, is being more cautious and avoiding a formal cancellation announcement. “Releasing” the cast may be a cruel irony for a series built entirely around the promise of transformation and the brutality of being discarded. In the entertainment industry, however, it makes perfect sense.