Netflix is ​​tormenting me! I’m so desperate that I almost want my favorite series to be canceled

This year alone, 20 Netflix series were canceled. The frustration over unfinished stories from 1899 to Lockwood & Co is great for many viewers. The fact that fans fight for their canceled favorites after the bad news is rarely successful, as the fight for The Society, which has been going on for three years, shows.

But one thing drives me even more crazy as a user of the streaming service: that Netflix does not announce canceled series and as a result it is sometimes uncertain for years whether a series will be renewed or has already been secretly ended. Which continually makes me worry about further seasons of my favorite fantasy series.

Nobody can force Netflix to reveal its series cancellations

At TV stations it becomes clear relatively quickly whether a series will continue. Extensions and cancellations are officially announced in the USA at the latest at the so-called upfronts. With streaming services and in times of increasingly longer gaps between seasons, this is more difficult because it There is no rule that says unrenewed series are announced would have to be.

Have you noticed that? Netflix’s series funerals are only ever announced by the creators themselves become? It falls to the creative people to give the eulogy for their children. Because they themselves can’t do anything about the cancellation, the fans don’t hostility to them, but rather pity them. With this leaking tactic, the streaming service avoids unpleasant announcements. He only gives his own reports to extended series.

Around Avoid negative headlines, this is understandable from the business side. Netflix’s subscription numbers are stagnating, which is why measures to ban password sharing are now being enforced. For some viewers, the loss of another favorite series could be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back of frustration and causes them to cancel their subscription.

Of course, keeping quiet about canceled series is not a Netflix problem per se. Other streaming services such as Amazon also leave the announcement of bad news to others, for example industry newspapers with internal sources. But since Netflix is ​​by far the most productive series producer, the mass cancellations are particularly noticeable here.

Become at the same time Extension is no longer announced after one month as it used to be. The streaming service has new rules for continuing and assessing the success of a series. Today, for example, seasons that have been watched through instead of just started play a role. It is no longer a rule of thumb that a Netflix series has to either make a name for itself or die in the first four weeks. Which is basically a good decision, but one agonizing waiting time leads.

The fantasy series Shadow & Bone sums up my Netflix despair

Personally, I’m worried about the fate of the series Shadow and Bone – Legends of Grisha sleepless nights – one of my absolute favorite series on Netflix. As a big fan of the now seven books of the Grishaverse * by Leigh Bardugo, I was looking forward to the second season of the high-quality fantasy story for two years. After it came to Netflix in March 2023, there was no more news of an extension (or cancellation).

The omens were already not favorable before season 2: the new season filmed books 2 and 3, thus concluding the first fantasy universe novel trilogy. Before the start of season 2, I suspected that the series was supposed to have an interim ending in view of a possible cancellation. But then the season 2 ending changed Alina’s story to a cliffhanger in order to keep her in the series and prepared season 3 and the spin-off series Six of Crows. According to series creator Eric Heisserer, even the scripts for the additional series of the thieving fan favorites “Crows” are already finished.

Netflix laid out all the breadcrumbs for a sequel – but with the intention of fulfilling it? For average Netflix users, whether we will ever be able to enjoy the two fantasy sequels is up in the air. All I can do at home is tremble for the beloved characters. Will I never be able to witness the big heist of Kaz, Jasper, Inej and Co. on screen? Does Matthias have to languish in prison forever for non-readers? Not even book fans can predict where the Alina twist would have led.

Netflix’s silence on Shadow & Bone puts me as a fan in an unpleasant limbo situation: I’m stewing in the limbo of anxious expectations of dismissal, but I can’t completely give up hope. After all, there have already been Netflix series that were unexpectedly renewed for another season after more than a year of waiting.

Why Netflix’s cancellation silence makes me angry

Without the certainty that Shadow & Bone really died, I can’t fully finish the Netflix series. I can’t say goodbye properlydo the necessary grieving work and continue living my series life, if in a corner of my heart I still believe that the fantasy series will unexpectedly appear again.

Which brings us back to the streaming service’s avoidance strategy. Netflix’s holding me hostage with my hopes. Even the slightest chance of an extension keeps me on edge. In Netflix’s secluded black box, Shadow & Bones Season 3 could be both dead and alive. Schrödinger’s streaming cat keeps me lingering, even as anger over the uncertainty continues to grow.

Will Netflix’s declining revenue really rise as waiting fans like me cling to the possibility of future seasons rather than canceling their Netflix subscription? Is my desperate hope being exploited as a winning strategy? Personally, I would prefer a sad but fair dismissal message.

Podcast tip: Why is Netflix canceling my favorite series?

In the podcast we look for explanations for the wave of cancellations at Netflix that has affected series like Warrior Nun, 1899 and First Kill. Are they really not successful enough? And could Netflix do something to reduce fans’ anger and sadness?

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