Most TV viewers have had to cope with losing a beloved show that was canceled way too soon. Sometimes, a show needs more than a season to find its footing, but the television climate doesn’t always allow a series that kind of time to find an audience. One platform known to cancel a TV series way too early is Netflix, despite once taking the stance of allowing their shows to find an audience. TheShockNews of canceled Netflix series is so vast now that a hashtag has gone viral on social media as fans remember and shed a tear for some of the platform’s fallen TV projects.
If you head over to X, you will find that #NetflixCancels is trending as fans discuss a slew of shows that were killed on the platform far too soon. Much of this seems to have been sparked by a 2017 post on Netflix’s then-official Twitter page that states, “We don’t like leaving a story unfinished. We learned a lot from Sense and we’re going to try not to do this in the future.” Sense is a reference to the science-fiction series Sense8, which was canceled after only two seasons and 24 episodes, and ended on a major cliffhanger because the creators believed they were getting a third season. Even though the streamer ended up producing a two-and-a-half-hour series finale to give Sense8 a proper conclusion, that didn’t stop the trend of Netflix ending shows prematurely.
X Users Are Pointing to Several Netflix Series That Were Canceled Prematurely
X users using #NetflixCancels are referencing several shows on the platform that the streamer either ended too soon or without a proper conclusion. One user by the name of @Katring_07 posted a collage of canceled Netflix series, including the recently canceled Dead Boy Detectives and other gone-too-soon Netflix series such as The OA, 1899, Mindhunter, Santa Clarita Diet, The Society, and more. In a response to the 2017 Netflix post that says, “We don’t like leaving a story unfinished,” @Katring_07 says, “So many shows have to say otherwise,” followed by #NetflixCancels.
Some of the posts are either more genre-specific or series-specific. X user @Edge_of_Dawn776 showed their support for the fantasy shows that have been canceled by Netflix with a caption that states, “Netflix either needs to do better, or just stay away from fantasy entirely. This is just ridiculous. The fans deserve better.” This is accompanied by images of several canceled fantasy series that were once featured on the platform.
The crime thriller series Mindhunter, which was canceled after only two seasons, is another show being represented with #NetflixCancels. X user @Charliebadger99 points to the series having more stories to tell by stating, “There was decades of material for Mindhunter to work with. It could have been the greatest show of all with a timeline continuing to show the most notorious serial killers and the advancement of the behavioral unit. It was ridiculous to leave it where it did.” Another user, @VeryLiza, also shades Netflix for canceling Mindhunter and bringing on “garbage reality” such as Love is Blind and Too Hot to Handle.
As #NetflixCancels continues to trend, it should be noted that Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters controversially said that the platform has never canceled a show with good viewership. According to Sarandos specifically, “a lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget,” adding, “You have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget.” There is likely some truth to that statement, but seeing how much money Netflix throws at some of the mediocre material that gets to stick around, as well as the loud voices from fans of the shows that have been canceled, one is inclined to believe that Netflix has likely canceled shows with good viewership for reasons that only the platform truly knows.