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Earlier this week, Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, the creators behind Netflix‘s hit smack Dark, fight on Instagram with sad news: Their new series, 1899, won’t be renewed for a second season, despite debuting in late 2022 to rave reviews and a spot on the top 10 streamers list. “We would love to end this incredible journey with season 2 and 3 like we did with Dark” couple wrote. “But sometimes things don’t go the way you planned.”
Plans are a funny thing in the streaming business. Obscure show like Squid game can find their audience, become cultural enthusiasts, and then get additional seasons. Is different, alike warrior nun, can also find passionate fans but not enough for them to survive. As the streaming landscape expands, the viability of any show starts to look like Squid game itself—and the “red light,” the “green light” makes everyone stand on tiptoe.
Netflix has seen a lot of changes in recent months: lost subscriber, new ad-supported price tiers. Its recent flurry of shows has left people wondering what’s written on the wall. Some suggestions that thing 1899Its downfall was due to its “complete rate”—a percentage of viewers who actually finished watching a show—reportedly below 50%. Others pointed out that performances were expensive. Some suggest it only lost in shuffle.
In fact, as the co-CEO of Netflix Ted Sarandos once put it, “70% is gut and 30% is data.” There is no single metric that determines what a streamer does or doesn’t kill. Netflix must focus on its profits more than ever—and expensive shows that don’t become big hits are risky. But giving the ax to a show before it can find followers feels short-sighted. At a time when the streaming giant needs to retain subscribers, experts will talk to you that being the graveyard of unfinished, forgotten shows isn’t the best way to attract a loyal fan base.
Honestly, this explanation isn’t quite right. Programs are canceled all the time, and people who are excited about TV — especially genre TV — know that there’s a chance that something they love may never come to the conclusion that its creators wanted it to, that it could be literally endless. Sometimes those early shows—firefly, arthritis—gain more cult status because of their cancellation.
This will happen with 1899? Or even warrior nun? Oh, maybe. But maybe that’s not the problem. Netflix was once a place where weirder, lesser-known shows were given space — and time — to thrive. But 1899 the cancellation shows that the company, like any streaming service, is now in a position to act like previous television networks. When cable – especially original programming on cable – came out, the major networks suddenly had much less captive audiences. Streaming has reached that inflection point. The good news is that services like Netflix are making all sorts of lost gems for people to discover later; The bad news is that companies may not always want to keep those programs around.
