Cancellations are common across all networks but are particularly noticeable with Netflix. While most shows do get announced as to whether they’ll return for future seasons or receive a cancellation through the trades or otherwise, a number languish. Below, we’ve looked through all the shows currently in limbo that we suspect may be canceled.
For the most part, we do learn of the fates of shows in a timely fashion, but several shows have never had any kind of resolution, and a few recent titles are still pending.
I should stress at this point that this article is purely opinion and doesn’t necessarily mean they’re canceled and/or based on any evidence other than viewership, length of time since the last release, and/or the fact the stars/creators have moved on to other projects. We’ll also exclude any show waiting for a renewal for over five years, as it’s almost certainly not coming back.
You may recall we used to show an at-risk section within our main cancelation posts (see 2023 cancelations here and 2024 cancelations so far here) but for 2024, we’re going to make a separate list which is below:
Girls5eva (Season 4)
We begin with a Peacock to Netflix rescue, which may need another rescue.
After airing its first two seasons exclusively on Peacock, Netflix boldly chose to revive Girls5eva ahead of a presumed cancelation for season 3 and carry the first two seasons. Most regions picked up the Tina Fey-produced series in 2023, with the US getting both the first two seasons and the newly released third season in March. While the show certainly has its fans and critic’s certainly enjoyed the new season, the series did little to impress audiences by failing to enter the global top 10s once. Worse yet, the show didn’t even enter any individual countries’ top 10s either.
There are plans and hopes for a season 4 but we’d be very surprised whether they ever comes to light.
Neon (Season 2)
Sticking with comedy, and much like Girls5eva, Neon’s biggest crime is that its arrival on Netflix didn’t make many (if any) waves following its launch. The show didn’t appear in the global top 10s, although it did appear in a handful of individual top 10s for anywhere between a day or two and a couple of weeks in the Dominican Republic, according to FlixPatrol.
Over on IMDb, the series currently sits at a 5.2/10, but what’s worse is that it’s only based on 397 reviews, further adding to the point that we suspect not enough people engaged with the show meaningfully enough to justify bring it back.
Dead Boy Detectives (Season 2)
It’s no secret that young adult fantasy shows have had a rough time as of late in finding audiences and getting renewed at the streamer. Sadly, Dead Boy Detectives, despite being connected to the popular series The Sandman, doesn’t look like it’ll be coming back.
This article is being published around two weeks after the series debuted. While it may be premature to include the show in a potential cancelations list, the show’s performance so far has tracked below Lockwood & Co, Warrior Nun S2, First Kill, and a few other significant cancelations from the past few years.
God’s Favorite Idiot (Season 2)
We’re coming up on two years since God’s Favorite Idiot first debuted on Netflix in June 2022, and it was supposed to come back for more. As you may remember, the show was ordered with 16 episodes, and production ended after eight to some controversy, it must be said. Deadline at the time reported that we shouldn’t worry as these episodes would be filmed later, but two years later, there’s no indication this will ever happen.
Cementing its fate are lukewarm audience reviews and horrid critics reviews, and while it did feature in quite several Netflix top 10s, its positions weren’t held for long.
Trailer Park Boys
OK, we’re going back on our five-year rule here a little, but Trailer Park Boys is in a weird spot. It was an acquired Netflix Original for Netflix and one of their earliest.
We do know that some filming was taking place for Trailer Park Boys recently in London, with one person on X capturing it and tying it to Netflix, but for the most part, it looks like the series has gone entirely exclusive to Swearnet.
Russian Doll (Season 3)
One show that seems to be in limbo due to the cast and crew being too busy with other projects is Russian Doll which captured audiences and awards buzz with its first season and rather missed the mark with its second.
We got somewhat of a non-update in March 2024 courtesy of Collider, who spoke with Leslye Headland, who told the outlet, “I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything. I don’t know if it’s because Natasha [Lyonne]’s doing ‘Poker Face’ now . I don’t know if it’s gonna become a schedule thing, but I haven’t heard anything from Netflix about it.”
While we suspect Netflix would love to work with Natasha Lyonne again, we suspect it wouldn’t be in the form of Russian Doll.
Good Times (Season 2)
Very rarely do you see a show like Good Times manage to piss everyone off. Somehow, however, it managed it. Serving as a modern adaptation of the beloved sitcom, from the word go, it was controversial with audiences, resulting in its current score of 3.7 out of 10 on IMDb. Ouch.
While on the subject of animated adult sitcoms, it is doubtful whether we will get any episodes of Mulligan and Chicago Party Aunt, two shows that also struggled for viewership or acclaim beyond their initial orders.
Skull Island (Season 2)
We may regret including Skull Island on this list, but unlike most animated series on Netflix, this one didn’t come with an initial upfront order, with reports in October 2023 (months following its release in June release) that Brian Duffield had completed the entire script for season 2 but it had yet to be greenlit. A few people attached to the show on LinkedIn still list the show as a present, while others have moved on. Animation projects are notoriously hard to track so fingers and toes crossed we’re wrong on this one.
Although the show appeared in the Netflix top 10s in a slew of regions, it didn’t manage to get inside the overall Netflix top 10s.
There are plenty more English-language shows that have been waiting for renewal beyond those mentioned above:
- Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun (Season 2) – No news on this one since its debut in November 2020. The group are still very active but it’s likely curtains on their Netflix production.
- Chad and JD Go Deep (Season 2) – The duo are still very much active on their socials but it doesn’t seem like they’re coming back for a season 2 of their Netflix show.
- Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities (Season 2) – GDT is actively working on new movies for Netflix but his anthology horror series has been inactive now for quite a while.
- The Pentaverate (Season 2) – Mike Myers’s big comedy comeback didn’t go as planned. With poor reviews and viewership, it likely means it’s one-and-done.
- The Politician (Season 3) – One of the two Netflix shows Ryan Murphy burst onto Netflix with was The Politician, which released two seasons before going quiet. Much like Ratched, we suspect the series won’t be coming back for a third season.
This list excludes multiple international series to which Netflix has yet to give formal renewals. We’ll cover them further down the road.
Are there any big shows we’ve missed? Let us know in the comments.