Three Netflix shows that didn’t deserve to be cancelled
The world of entertainment thrives and survives on audience anticipation, but why is it then that, despite considerable viewer support, some shows are cut short? The phenomenon is not exclusive to Netflix or, say, Prime Video. Anyone who follows showbiz has suffered indifferently, irrespective of the streaming service.
In reality, streaming renewals are influenced by various factors. Take, for instance, when it comes to Netflix, viewership numbers and completion rates in the first 28 days of the said title’s release are paramount among other aspects. That said, no amount of logical reasoning can help fans make peace with certain cancellations, and we get it.
In many cases, what Netflix deems as undeserving of a greenlight for continuation may not make the audience feel similarly. And we’re not banking on presumptions because social uproars over Netflix cancellations are not a new thing. They have happened, and they continue to happen.
While we’re sure you have your own say in this matter, here are three Netflix shows that didn’t deserve to be cancelled, according to Best of Netflix.
Three Netflix shows that were undeserving of cancellation
1899 (Baran bo Odar, 2022)
A brain-bending sci-fi mystery from the creators of Dark, 1899 is a drama series about a multinational group of European immigrants travelling from London to New York on the steamship Kerberos. While the passengers board the ship rather enthusiastically, the journey turns into an elusive nightmare when they receive coordinates and intercept the Prometheus, a sister ship that went missing at sea four months ago.
1899 culminates in a mind-boggling twist, breaking down the mystery of the year, the ship, and the ocean crossing to an extent as a nested computer simulation, with the show’s protagonist waking up to find herself aboard a spacecraft called Prometheus instead of a 19th-century ship. At the same time, the show’s inadvertent ending leaves zero answers to the riddles viewers spent hours trying to solve since the original intention was to run at least three seasons.
Sense8 (Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski, J Michael Straczynski, David Mitchell, and Aleksander Hemon, 2015-2018)
Another groundbreaking Netflix series that was pulled back from the streamer rather rapidly was Sense8. The American sci-fi drama follows eight strangers from across the globe who suddenly become psychically and emotionally linked to the extent where they can not only share their physical skills or languages but also one another’s thoughts, since all of them come from different cities, cultures, and walks of life.
But with great powers come greater responsibilities and the greatest of dangers. Subsequently, not long after their awakening, the Biologic Preservation Organisation, led by rogue sensate “Whispers,” begins hunting the eight, and together, they must learn to survive the situations. Sense8 was cancelled after just two seasons due to the lack of balance between the show’s massive production budget and its viewership numbers
The OA (Zal Batmanglij, Andrew Haigh, and Anna Rose Holmer, 2016-2019)
It may feel like Netflix does this on purpose with its sci-fi hits. However, you can rest assured because this is nothing but a coincidence, as the final entry on the list is The OA. The mystery drama blends elements of sci-fi, supernatural, and fantasy to tell the story of Prairie Johnson, an adopted woman who returns home after seven years of disappearance. Upon returning, Prairie’s eyesight is miraculously restored, but she completely refuses to speak to the police about her years away.
Instead, she gathers a group of five locals to help rescue other captive individuals. While The OA creators originally envisioned the series as a five-season puzzle, the show was cancelled after just two seasons, leaving the audience on a major cliffhanger with the unfinished story. Although closure might not be in the cards, the cancellations remain a bitter memory associated with the shows that otherwise reached great heights.