Everyone has been affected by Netflix canceling their favorite shows. From Santa Clarita Diet to Mindhunter, many die-hard fans of tons of TV series have been gravely disappointed by Netflix’s decision to pull their shows off their platform. But the most affected of all have been the fantasy lovers.
Shadow and Bone, I Am Not Okay with This, Cursed and Warrior Nuns—among others—were all canceled within their first few seasons. For fantasy lovers, Netflix just can’t be trusted with their beloved adaptations and storylines.
In the past few weeks, X users have taken to the platform to express their frustration about Netflix canceling their favorite TV shows. More than just fantasy shows, Netflix is responsible for the cancellation of dozens of beloved shows, including over 20 in 2022. In 2023, the cancel-count was down, but many shows were still victimized, Shadow and Bone being one of them. Leigh Bardugo’s YA fantasy series first premiered in April of 2021, and ran for two seasons before being canceled.
Also in 2023, Lockwood & Co., one of the shows mentioned in X users’ endless lists of Netflix disappointments, was dropped by Netflix. The platform attributed the cancellation to low viewership, despite the show spending three weeks in Netflix’s top 10 list.
Netflix remains steadfast in their claim to have “never canceled a successful show,” which CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said back in 2023 in an interview with Bloomberg. But so far this year, over 15 shows have already been canceled, including Dead Boy Detectives, yet another YA fantasy to have faced the chopping block. The continued cancellations, along with the CEO’s claims, have left fans wondering how Netflix even measures success.
Most of Netflix’s original shows have been moderately successful, but in comparison with the successes of award-winning Stranger Things or Orange is the New Black, a lot of series just don’t stand a chance. To continue making so many original shows, Netflix has to cut some. Unfortunately, many of those series tend to be fantasy. Part of this could be attributed to high production costs for some fantasy shows, especially those who use heavy CGI and special effects.
However, as much as fans do criticize Netflix, a 2023 study by Variety actually showed that among streaming platforms, Netflix ranked relatively low for show cancellations. Max, formerly HBO Max, ranked the highest. Disney, Hulu and Paramount were next in line, with Netflix ranking fifth. Apple TV+ had the lowest cancellation rate.
Netflix’s cancellation history definitely doesn’t help with viewership, as well as their seemingly flippant commitments to the series they produce. Unless a series is highly successful, Netflix just seems to throw it away. However, plenty of other streaming platforms do the same–without all the criticism.
But for fantasy lovers, their hesitancy to trust Netflix with fantasy book or game TV show adaptations is well-earned. Often, the waiting game for books to be picked up for TV is long and hard, and finally being able to see a story on-screen is a complete thrill. This is evident in the success of other fantasy series, like Max’s Game of Thrones or even Netflix’s The Witcher.
If Netflix is going to continue picking up fantasy adaptations for TV, or even making new original fantasy shows, they have to understand that fantasy fans are die-hard, and they won’t like seeing their favorite series scrapped. Netflix can’t yet be trusted with fantasy shows, but with continued conversations on X and beyond, maybe the platform will finally understand what it takes to make a fantasy series—and keep it.
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