Good Girls – Picture: NBC
Good Girls seasons 1-4 are now on Netflix around the world but the show, as you’re no doubt aware, is not returning for a season 5 on NBC or Netflix. But why was it canceled? Can Netflix revive it? Should Netflix revive Good Girls? Let’s take an updated look.
For those unaware, Good Girls is the NBC crime-comedy series led by trio Christina Hendricks, Retta, and Mae Whitman. It began its run in February 2018 and from season 1, Netflix internationally has carried the show with Netflix US getting new seasons a year after airing. Season 4 didn’t land on Netflix US until mid-March 2022.
The show is distributed by Netflix internationally as a Netflix Original. It’s not the first NBC show to get this treatment, The Good Place notably was a Netflix Original outside the US too.
Good Girls does pull in some impressive numbers for Netflix. When it was added to Netflix internationally (outside the US) it was in the global top 10 for 4 weeks. It also rose to the top 10 spot after its addition to Netflix US pulling in 24,500,000 hours viewed between March 6th and March 13th.
The series wasn’t one of the best performing shows for the network but still managed to maintain a good global audience thanks, in part, to Netflix. In the 2020-21 season, a number of NBC shows were expected to be axed with one of the shows mentioned being Good Girls. While the opposite was true, it was reported in June 2021 that the show would not be returning.
Why wasn’t Good Girls renewed for season 5?
Perhaps more pertinently to this announcement was the fact that the show wouldn’t be shopped elsewhere. Contrast that to Manifest, another canceled NBC show (although not produced by NBC), which was shopped elsewhere and eventually picked up by Netflix for a supersized final season.
If NBC passed on the show, surely Netflix could’ve jumped in to save the day. After all, it had the streaming numbers for all regions and has jumped onto revive shows in similar situations in the past (Designated Survivor and Lucifer being prime examples).
It turns out Netflix wouldn’t get a chance to revive Good Girls as it wasn’t even NBC’s decision to end the show.
According to a comprehensive exclusive report from TVLine in July, the intention was the keep the show running with an eight-episode final season 5 planned.
According to their report, it ultimately came down to money, creative differences, and scheduling with multiple sources saying “renewal hit a major snag in mid-June when negotiations with co-star Manny Montana hit a wall”. They also cite troubles between the relationship of Christina Hendricks and Manny Montana too but ultimately concluded too many factors made the show impossible to renew.
So that leads us to Netflix. Could they have made the show’s fifth season?
Well, that’s unclear. According to a report by Deadline, they state that plans did include a future whereby only Netflix would show Good Girls season 5 exclusively but would’ve had to make deals work under any existing pay structure. Universal TV reportedly came up with budgets for moving the show to a full Netflix Original show but clearly, nothing of substance materialized.
Ultimately, it doesn’t appear that Netflix was eventually given the chance to pick it up as money and the other factors detailed above just made it impossible to move forward.
Good Girls – Picture: NBC
Fans campaign to save Good Girls Season 5
Despite all of the above, that hasn’t stopped fans looking to Netflix to save the show.
Fans on social media are still active months later using the hashtag, “#SaveGoodGirls”. Likewise, active petitions on sites like Change.org have gained some traction over the summer too.
While the book seems to be closed, it can’t hurt in expressing your opinion online even if it does seem futile for the show ever return.
Would you have liked to see Good Girls return for a season 5 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.