Stanley Tucci Just Revealed That “Searching for Italy” Has Been Canceled

If you enjoyed Stanley Tucci’s Emmy Award-winning show Searching for Italy or were waiting to launch into an epic virtual vacation in the form of a binge watch with another season, the actor has delivered some bad news … with a side of hope.

During a recent interview promoting the new Whitney Houston biopic, I Wanna Dance with Somebody (in which he stars alongside Naomi Ackie as Clive Davis), Tucci revealed to Jimmy Fallon that the hit show is now “searching for a new network” (as the host so eloquently put it). According to the actor and epicure, in the wake of the failed launch of CNN’s streaming platform CNN+, the network has decided to pull the plug on all original programming.

For those of us who have become spoiled (or maybe overwhelmed) by the abundance of available streaming content, catching up on the two completed seasons of Searching For Italy may also prove to be a challenge. According to Vulture, while the show is currently available on Discovery+, that might not last for much longer as a forthcoming merger between the platform and HBO Max will result in several shows being pulled from the libraries of both subscription services.

All is not lost for fans just yet, though. As Stanley Tucci originally set out to visit all 20 regions of Italy with this show, and with only 13 in the books through the second season, he has no plans to give up on that mission. 

“Hopefully we’ll end up on another streamer, network, we don’t know,” Tucci told Fallon during the interview. “But yes, I have plans to do season three and more.”

Searching for Italy found Tucci — who is of Italian descent — not only touring the country, but also exploring each region’s diverse cuisine from a historical standpoint. While the actor and host credited the show’s popularity to having found “a captive audience” during the 2020 pandemic lockdown, Jimmy Fallon revealed that the interest has certainly expanded beyond that. The late-night host revealed that more than a handful of Searching For Italy-inspired tours have launched in the Mediterranean country in the wake of the show’s popularity.

If the show does end up disappearing from the streaming cloud, you’ll still have plenty of opportunity to cook with Tucci from the comfort of your own home. The Oscar-nominated star is the author of several cookbooks, including 2021’s Taste: My Life Through Food.

Take a look at Tucci’s full interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon below.