Netflix may be the largest and most popular streaming service in the world, but it’s also acquired the reputation of being the largest contributor of unjustly canceled TV shows.
Netflix just canceled Fate: The Winx Saga and Partner Track in a span of literally one week at the same time they announced their new ad tier. All I want to know is who is making these business decisions? Don’t get me wrong — I love watching Netflix original series — but I’m just a little bitter.
There are so many shows and movie series that are currently stuck in what I call the “Netflix cancellation or renewal limbo”. In this list, I talk about 5 shows that Netflix fumbled the bag with.
1. Julie and the Phantoms
Julie and the Phantoms is a musical series that premiered in September 2020 and it took the world by storm. It’s about a girl who discovers her passion for music and performing with the help of three ghosts from a 1990s band. Cheesy as it sounds, it was nominated for and won multiple Emmy awards, so trust the critics.
Netflix got the legendary Kenny Ortega in their pocket with this one, so if they wanted to compete with Disney with musicals and original songs, this was the way to go. The fan base was and still is huge, so the lack of views was certainly not the reason for its cancellation. In fact, the cast just showed up at a convention this past weekend and the fandom is still going strong!
The storyline was so well written. It was genuinely just a good, heartwarming show. However, despite the critical acclaim and strong support, Netflix canceled the show after a year of fans waiting in agony for a renewal announcement. I’ll be honest, this show has a special place in my heart. I took this personally, especially with the massive cliffhanger they left us on. Netflix, come on, this show had serious potential to be High School Musical level legacy.
2. The Society
The Society was a mystery/thriller series about a group of high school students that get trapped in an alternate reality of their hometown, but without the adults. This “Lord of the Flies” inspired story was released in 2019 and was actually renewed for a second season, but then COVID happened and it got shut down. This I can understand. It just wasn’t feasible to do another season, but the cliffhanger left us with so many unanswered questions.
Season 1 was the season to set up the whole story/universe. I think Netflix had every intention of continuing it which made the cancellation such an injustice. Not a single plot line or character arc was finished. SPOILER: Who killed Cassandra? How did they get to New Ham? Who is the bus driver? The world will never know.
It is truly one of the best series on Netflix I have ever seen, no doubt. It had such a diverse ensemble of talented actors and a genuinely intriguing and thrilling plot that had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. If I had three wishes, one of them would definitely be to sit down with the creator of the show to find out what exactly they had planned for the endgame.
3. Fate: The Winx Saga
Fate is one of the latest victims of Netflix’s brutal cancellation sword after its second season just came out a couple of months ago. It was marketed as a reboot of the beloved cartoon Winx Club but turned out to be only loosely based on the original material. Thus, audience members, especially fans of the cartoon, were disappointed by how different it was and felt that it was missing everything that made the original Winx Club special.
However, the reaction to the second season was much better as fans said the writing improved, the characters settled into their story arcs more and people started to accept it as something separate from the original series. The show was even able to gain a really good social media presence with over 800K followers on Instagram, rather uncommon for other Netflix series. Even the general consensus on TikTok was fairly positive and a lot of people were looking forward to another season.
But of course, Netflix has to leave us on another cliffhanger! Because the show features a very different plot compared to the cartoon, the audience has been left unfulfilled, especially fans who wanted to see the development of the various relationships on the show (we will never get to see Riven and Musa or Stella and Beatrix together). What is it with Netflix and cliffhangers?
4. Anne With an E
Now the cancellation of Anne With An E has got to be the villain origin story of thousands of people, Netflix subscribers or not. AWAE’s reach grew to such an iconic status, particularly within Gen Z, that most people have probably seen a scene or two in some form of media.
Based on the classic book series Anne of Green Gables, this series was truly a remarkable show and was an inspiration to many young girls. It’s the prime example of what the female gaze means, displaying Anne’s fierceness and carefree nature, her loyalty to her family and friends, what it means to grow up as a girl, and the beauty of falling in love.
Despite the cancellation, I think they managed to wrap it up fairly well. The show certainly reached some ending point as Anne moved on to study at university and she and Gilbert finally got together, but we definitely would have liked to see more of their story. I guess fans will just have to hit the books to find out their fate.
5. Partner Track
Partner Track is a very new Netflix series that just premiered this past August. It’s a drama about a Korean American woman and her journey in the tough world of corporate law firms. Though the acting wasn’t the best and some storylines were awkward and frustrating, the message and representation outshined all of that for me.
Hardly do we ever get to see an Asian American woman be the main character in a story, let alone navigate issues of racism and sexism in a professional field. Ingrid, the main character, is by no means a perfect person. Even so, she felt so real. She deals with real issues that Asian American women face every single day, such as being underestimated and looked down on by others.
I had a feeling that Partner Track was going to get canceled because of how much the actors were pushing for a second season and how long it was taking for Netflix to make an announcement. Since it was only canceled less than a week ago, this is still a fresh wound, but we wanted to see Ingrid and Z!
There’s been an overall decline in Netflix subscribers, and the answer is clear as day. They’re canceling shows left and right after their first or second season, not allowing them to gain momentum. I’m really scared for other original series (I won’t name names because I refuse to put them out into the universe), no matter how successful or well-written, produced or acted it is. No show is safe.