Lifestyle Food Celebrity Chef Stanley Tucci Says CNN Canceled 'Searching for Italy' — But He Still Wants to Do a Season 3 Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy won an Emmy Award for outstanding hosted nonfiction series shortly after its first season premiered in 2021 By Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice is a Senior Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. He began working with the brand as an Editorial Intern in early 2020, before later transitioning to a freelance role, and then staff positions soon after. Nicholas writes and edits anywhere between 7 to 9 stories per day on average for PEOPLE, spanning across each vertical the brand covers. People Editorial Guidelines Published on December 15, 2022 08:16AM EST Stanley Tucci is searching ... for another network. While appearing on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday evening, the actor, 62, confirmed that his hit food and travel show, Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, has been axed. "Unfortunately, CNN has canceled all of their original programming," Tucci told host Jimmy Fallon. "So hopefully we'll end up on another streamer, network — we don't know." He added: "But yes, I have plans to do season 3 and more." Stanley Tucci's Searching for Italy Is a Hit — a Guide to the Best Dishes to Come on the CNN Show In a statement given to PEOPLE, CNN said, "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy is one of the most successful projects produced by CNN Original Series, garnering two consecutive Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series. We want to thank Stanley Tucci for his dream partnership on this series." The network added: "We look forward to collaborating on the upcoming Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, for which he serves as an executive producer. Searching for Mexico will air on CNN in 2023." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Slaven Vlasic/Getty Stanley Tucci Says He'd 'Never' Try to Take Anthony Bourdain's Place with His Food-Travel Series Searching for Italy follows Tucci exploring his Italian roots, putting the spotlight on the many little-known delights of Italy's diverse culinary culture. The six-episode first season premiered in February 2021, and earned the praise of critics and viewers alike, nabbing an Emmy months later for outstanding hosted nonfiction series. Season 2 premiered over a year later, on May 1, 2022. Want to get the biggest stories from PEOPLE every weekday? Subscribe to our new podcast, PEOPLE Every Day, to get the essential celebrity, entertainment and human interest news stories Monday through Friday. Speaking with PEOPLE in February 2022, Tucci explained that the series found success that he didn't see coming. "It became this thing that I don't think any of us really anticipated," Tucci said at the time. "I was really flattered that CNN came to me and said, 'Hey, do you have any ideas?' And this was an idea I had for a very long time. And then they said, 'Yeah, okay, we'll make that,' " he added. "It's a great production company in London, and we started making it, and we made it. But did we expect it to become a big hit? Honestly, no." RELATED VIDEO: Stanley Tucci Partners with S.Pellegrino on New Campaign and Special 'Stan Pellegrino' Bottle During his Tonight Show appearance, Tucci also reflected on how his CNN series inspired people to travel and cook amid the COVID pandemic. "It's wonderful. When the show came out, it was during the pandemic, and we were in lockdown," he said. "So we had a captive audience, right? People were desperate to get out, and they sort of lived vicariously through us." Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy is streaming on Discovery+. Close