- Netflix has canceled 11 shows after just one season this year, including The Boroughs, The Abandons, and Terminator Zero, despite strong viewership and critical acclaim.
- The decision to cancel these shows after one season was reportedly influenced by factors such as expensive budgets, creators leaving for other platforms, and low viewership numbers.
- Other canceled Netflix shows after one season include Class, Miss Governor, Strip Law, F1: The Academy, What’s in the Box?, Pop The Balloon LIVE, Selling the City, and Building the Band, with reasons ranging from lack of interest to changing priorities.
It’s rare that a show truly hits its stride and becomes its full self during its first season. In fact, the most-watched and most celebrated shows of all time have needed time to find their footing.
Legendary shows like The Office, Friends, Parks and Recreation, and Breaking Bad got off to slow starts in their first seasons before blooming into the enduring series they are remembered as today. The characters, plots, themes, and storylines in these shows usually need a season or two of development before it hits its groove.
Unfortunately, in the streaming era, most shows don’t have the luxury of developing across multiple seasons, especially on Netflix. Over the past several years, there has been an unfortunate trend with Netflix shows where follow-up seasons of shows do not get the same promotion or the same viewership as the initial season. As a result, it seems like Netflix is quicker to end shows after just one season than other streamers.
This year alone, Netflix has already canceled 11 shows after just one season on the platform, ending them before they have a chance to develop. Here’s a complete list of the shows that Netflix has canceled this year after just a single season, including one from the Duffer Brothers, despite their success with Stranger Things.
The Boroughs
While Duffer Bros, Matt and Ross, created the most-watched Netflix series of all time, that was not enough to save their new show from cancellation after just one season.
Even though the show actually had strong viewership and received some high praise from critics, Netflix quietly canceled The Boroughs after just one season.
Oddly enough, the decision came while the show was still ranked amongst Netflix’s top-five most-watched shows and just weeks after it peaked at No. 1. In addition to the strong viewership, the show also had strong critical reviews as it was given a 97 percent “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, including a 91 percent rating with “Top Critics” on the platform.
While Netflix never officially confirmed why the show was canceled despite its strong ratings and reviews, The Hollywood Reporter reported that an expensive budget played a role, as well as the Duffer brothers’ decision to leave Netflix for Paramount+.
The Abandons
While high-budget drama The Abandonsseemed poised to ride what appeared to be a renewed interest in Westerns after Yellowstone, that clearly is not going to happen.
Viewership dropped off significantly after a promising debut, and Netflix canceled the big-budget drama after one season, even though it was technically one of Netflix’s most-watched shows.
After the show was officially canceled, showrunner Kurt Sutter was quick to call out Netflix on social media for prioritizing “algorithms” over the “potentially beautiful project.”
“Dear Netflix, Next time fear compels you to choose the algorithm over a creator’s vision, remember how that choice unraveled a potentially beautiful project,” he wrote after the show’s cancellation.
Terminator Zero
Though Terminator Zero was praised by almost everyone who actually watched it, the problem is that simply not enough people actually watched it.
Creator Mattson Tomlin confirmed earlier this year that the series, which was set in James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd’s Terminator universe, had been quietly canceled because “not nearly enough people watched it.”
“It was cancelled. The critical and audience reception to it was tremendous, but at the end of the day, not nearly enough people watched it,” he wrote in a post on X. “I would’ve loved to deliver on the Future War I had planned in seasons 2 and 3, but I’m also very happy with how it feels contained as is.”
Class
While Classwas initially renewed and given a second season by Netflix, the streamer seemingly changed its mind.
The show, which is a Hindi-language version of the Spanish hit Elite, followed “the turbulent integration of three working-class students into a private high school that caters to wealthy families.”
Though the show was renewed at first, the show’s star Gurfateh Pirzada confirmed on Instagram that a second season wasn’t happening, after all.
“Unfortunately we could not give you another season because life usually has other plans… l still remember it was the last week of 2024 when I heard the news of class being cancelled and I came down with a high fever and thought not again…not another one of my projects getting shelved,” he said at the time.
Netflix never made it official, but it quietly removed the “It’s Official: Another Season is Coming” tag from the show’s page, seemingly indicated that a second season was not coming, after all.
Miss Governor
Tyler Perry’s Miss Governor, which had a mid-series name change from She the People, is another show that was canceled by Netflix this year despite just one season.
The comedy followed Antoinette Dunkerson (Terri J. Vaughn), Mississippi’s first Black lieutenant governor, as she juggles a chaotic family alongside an old-school boss.
It debuted in May 2025 and ran for a single season before What’s On Netflix reported the show had been “effectively canceled” and would not have a follow-up season.
Strip Law
Creator Cullen Crawford chad big plans for follow-up seasons to Strip Law, but those plans aren’t going to happen.
“So they told me there’s not going to be anymore Strip Law at Netflix,” he said in a post on BlueSky. “I really cant be anything but grateful. at every phase it was made by talented people in pursuit of nothing but pure chaotic delirious joy and I’m so so proud of it thank you to everyone who gave it chance I thought it was funny.”
Crawfords said that there was “a whole lot of [expletive] we were gonna do,” but it’s no longer going to happen.
F1: The Academy
While F1: The Academy spotlighted the all-female racing tier, it couldn’t replicate the success of Drive to Survive. As a result, it will not be getting a second season.
The docuseries premiered in May 2025. Despite the overall excitement surrounding F1 and the massive growth, the weak viewership numbers led What’s on Netflix to report that the show’s run would not continue.
What’s in the Box?
Netflix’s game show What’s in the Box?, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris, had contestants answer triarked boxes
As with the others on this list, there was no official cancellation announcement, but Matt Webb Mitovich of Matt’s Inside Line reported there are “no plans” for additional episodes, essentially confirming that the series had been canceled after just one season.
Pop The Balloon LIVE
Netflix’s live dating reality series Pop The Balloon LIVE was initially launched as part of its push into live programming. However, it ultimately failed to gain traction with viewers.
As a result, the show has been rather quietly canceled after just one season on the platform.
Selling the City
While Selling Sunsethas been massively popular, Netflix decided to pull the plug on the spinoff series, Selling the City, after just one season.
The New York-based real estate reality series, which debuted in January 2025, centered on top Douglas Elliman agents as they competed in Manhattan’s high-end housing market, much like Selling Sunsetdoes in Southern California.
Netflix has decided not to continue Selling the Cityand will be concentrating its efforts on the hit show Selling Sunset rather than expanding the franchise through additional spinoffs.
Building the Band
Last month, The Sunreported that the Netflix competition show Building the Bandhad been canceled after just one season.
The competition show was headlined by hosts Backstreet Boys star AJ McClean and Pussycat Dolls star Nicole Sherzinger, with guest stars Kelly Rowland and the late One Direction star Liam Payne, who passed away shortly after the first season of the show concluded.
After premiering last July, Building the Band’s finalists, 3quency, SZN4, Soulidified, and Midnight Til Morning, have all released original music and toured.
This story was originally published byMen’s Journalon Jul 19, 2026, where it first appeared in theEntertainmentsection. Add Men’s Journal as aPreferred
