There are many times when a Netflix subscription can be a source of seemingly endless entertainment, but too often, those times are cut short thanks to unexpected cancellations. 2023 definitely wasn’t an exception, with dozens of original series facing the chopping block throughout the year.
While holding onto hopes that Netflix’s 2024 schedule won’t feature quite as many casualties, we’re looking back at a handful of the streaming giant’s best shows that were canceled in 2023. Grab some of that leftover champagne from New Year’s and pour one or two out for these gone-too-soon series.
1899 (Canceled After 1 Season)
With all the sci-fi that the service offered up in 2023, from the gloriousness of They Cloned Tyrone to the polarizing Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire, one can probably be forgiven for not remembering that the year began with Netflix canceling 1899. The time-twisting and horror-leaning mystery, created by Dark’s duo of Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, took viewers on a wild ride that ended with bonkers reveals that were set to be explored and explained in a second season.
Unfortunately, even though 1899 pulled in promising early numbers, the show’s viewership totals during its first month of release didn’t justify the first season’s expansive budget, and Netflix pulled the plug on the whole shebang the day after 2023 began.
Shadow And Bone (Canceled After 2 Seasons)
Based on the bestselling young adult novels penned by author Leigh Bardugo, the mystery-soaked fantasy Shadow and Bone seemed as if it could have been destined for a long run on the streaming service. The optimism was such that creator and showrunner Eric Heisserer revealed to EW back in April that a Grishaverse spinoff was in the advanced "scripts are already written" stage of development.
But the spinoff's chances all hinged on how well the second season fared, with it dropping nearly two years after the first eight episodes were released. And any chances of it landing a third season were likely dashed by the pair of entertainment industry strikes that took place in 2023, with Shadow and Bone getting canceled along with four other shows in November after the SAG-AFTRA strike concluded.
Freeridge (Canceled After 1 Season)
Having made it to four seasons, the teen dramedy On My Block was even successful enough to spark its own spinoff, Freeridge, which was ordered a month ahead of the flagship's final season in April 2021. Boasting the same trio of co-creators Lauren Iungerich, Eddie Gonzalez, and Jeremy Haft (along with Jamie Uyeshiro and Jamie Dooner), Freeridge finally arrived in February 2023.
Despite the offshoot dramedy garnering a lot of the same positive feedback and acclaim as On My Block, Freeridge was possibly just too far removed from the original series and its characters to earn enough attention overall. It failed to make much of a dent in Netflix's Top 10 rankings, and its canceled fate was sealed two months after it arrived.
Inside Job (Canceled After 1 Season)
One of quite a few adult animated comedies to get the boot from Netflix this year, the sci-fi-leaning Inside Job came from former Gravity Falls writer Shion Takeuchi, and also boasted that show's creator Alex Hirsch as an executive producer. It's no conspiracy theory that the show featured a stellar voice cast headed up by Christian Slater, Lizzy Caplan and Clark Duke, and the response to the show's initial episode drop was enough to convince Netflix to put in Season 2 renewal order.
However, just three months after the second half of Season 1 dropped (in November 2022), Takeuchi revealed on social media that Netflix reversed its decision and canceled Inside Job despite all the work that had already been done for it. So not only was it disappointing to see a good show get canned, but there was the added insult of having already expected it to return with new episodes to follow up on the first season's cliffhanger.
Lockwood & Co. (Canceled After 1 Season)
Netflix's Lockwood & Co., like many of the streamer's genre projects, was based on highly popular source material; in this case, Jonathan Stroud's same-titled supernatural detective book series. The road to release began back in 2017, with everything coming together at the streaming service in 2020, with Attack the Block helmer Joe Cornish spearheading things. And when the 8-episode season finally arrived in January 2023, it was embraced by critics and fans alike, and currently stands at a 93% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating (and a 94% audience rating).
But even if everyone who ever watched the show only had compliments and praise to share, that still wouldn't guarantee that enough people took the time to stream it during that all-important first month of release. A few months later, in May 2023, it was confirmed that Lockwood & Co. had already offered up its final investigation.
While those were the biggest and best Netflix shows that faced cancellation news last year, they definitely weren't the only original series to get cut. Check out a more comprehensive list of axed shows below.
Other Netflix Shows Canceled In 2023
- The Chair (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Dead End: Paranormal Park (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- Uncoupled (Cancelled After 1 Season, But Saved By Showtime)
- Juvenile Justice (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Hot Skull (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Ridley Jones (Cancelled After 5 Seasons)
- Young Wallander (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- Sex/Life (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- Bling Empire (Cancelled After 3 Seasons)
- Bling Empire: New York (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Smiley (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Rebelde (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- Man Vs. Bee (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- In Love All Over Again (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Sky High: the Series (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Welcome To Eden (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- Snowflake Mountain (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Hard Cell (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Wellmania (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Glamorous (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Farzar (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Captain Fall (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Agent Elvis (Cancelled After 1 Season)
- Invisible City (Cancelled After 2 Seasons)
- In From The Cold (Cancelled After 1 Season)
All good things must come to an end at some point, but clearly nothing is overtly sacred when it comes to TV cancellations. While it’s not likely any of the shows listed above will find second life elsewhere, keep those fingers crossed, and keep an eye out for other attention-worthy projects hitting the 2024 TV premiere schedule.
