Netflix was once ribbed for green-lighting just about any show. But the best cancelled Netflix shows are among our favourites on the entire platform.
In recent years belts have been tightened, and Netflix is now ruthless about the shows it cancels, sometimes doing so not long after the first episodes are broadcast.
It’s ruthless in the world of big budgets and ratings, where Netflix is expected to spend as much as $17 billion in 2024 on original shows.
You can have a good stab at guessing which shows are likely to be cancelled yourself, by keeping an eye on the Tudum website. This is a Netflix site that shows you the viewing figures of movies and shows each week.
If those figures aren’t high enough, there’s a good chance one of your favourite Netflix shows could fast become one of the best cancelled Netflix shows.
The full list of cancelled Netflix shows is more than 100 entries long. Sometimes these shows were just not that good, and they generally always did not attract enough viewers to keep the Netflix bigwigs satisfied. There was also a glut of cancellations around 2020, when altered shooting conditions — thanks to lockdowns and the shutdown of international travel — made creating TV shows vastly more difficult.
What are some of our recent favourites? We were devastated when we realised The 1899 would not get a satisfying conclusion. And as avid followers of Joe Cornish’s career, the director of the Attack the Block and The Kid Who Would be King, the cancellation of the highly-rated Lockwood and Co. was disappointing, if not surprising.
Here’s our run-down of the 16 best cancelled Netflix shows. Hankies at the ready...
The best cancelled Netflix shows
These are the best Netflix TV shows - some of which are still around.
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