A number of series, however, did get canceled by Netflix this year—some after a few successful seasons, and some after their first set of episodes.
All the shows canceled by Netflix in 2021
La Révolution
Netflix had a major French hit on its hands in 2021 with Lupin, the heist drama based on the story of the classic French gentleman thief.
While that show rose to the top of the Netflix top 10 charts, another show was canceled after its first season. Released in October 2020, La Révolution is a supernatural take on the French Revolution that sees a virus infect the aristocracy.
In a French-language interview with AlloCiné, the director of French original series at Netflix Damien Couvreur said of the show: “We are not going to renew the series for a second season, because although it aroused curiosity, the public did not like it.”
Monarca
One of the first shows released in 2021, Mexican drama Monarca released its second season on January 1, 2021. The show about a tequila magnate and the corrupt world of business, however, was overshadowed by Cobra Kai Season 3, released on the same day.
The show was a big success in its native Mexico and hit the daily top 10s in a number of countries in the Americas (including in the U.S.). Fans first got a hint the show was coming to an end when lead actor Osvaldo Benavides wrote on Instagram in March 2021: “In the absence of news … I am saying goodbye to Andres Carranza. What a pleasant project. Thanks for everything and to all of us who were there. What pride to have participated.” A few days later, it was confirmed the show has been canceled.
Like La Révolution before it, the show was also overshadowed by another show from its own country. While Monarca was canceled, Who Killed Sara? became a global phenomenon, of which the second season has been rush-released to continue the hype.
On My Block
January 2021 also saw Netflix draw On My Block to a close, with the show renewed for a fourth and final season that is coming later this year.
At one point, Netflix named On My Block as their most binged series of 2018, meaning it was the show that viewers watched over the shortest period of time.
This was not enough for the show to transcend Netflix’s tendency to cancel all but its biggest shows after three or four seasons. The streamer has found that shows do not bring in new subscribers after that point.
Special
Special was one of the experiments Netflix made into shorter shows, with the eight episodes of Season 1, released in 2019, all around 15 minutes long.
After the failure of the streaming service Quibi, which featured a library of shows with 10-minute episodes, Netflix has backed away from shorter content. In March 2021, Netflix announced the upcoming Season 2 of Special would be its last.
The Duchess
The Duchess was the latest comedy series from Katherine Ryan, a Canadian comedian who is a household name in the United Kingdom. As such, the show was a hit in the U.K., Ireland and Australia.
However, the series did not replicate this success around the world, with the show missing out on the top 10 in the U.S., and was canceled just two months after the first six episodes had aired.
The Irregulars
Supernatural-tinged teen dramas have done big business for Netflix in the past, with Stranger Things one of their biggest shows of all time and others, like Locke & Key and The Umbrella Academy, also hits for the streamer.
The Irregulars, however, did not manage to live up to those shows. A Sherlock Holmes riff that focused on the ragtag bunch of orphans who help the detective out, the show was overshadowed by another supernatural teen drama Shadow and Bone, which had a longer run in the global top 10s. Despite making it to the top of the U.S. charts, the show was canceled just over a month after it was released.
The Last Kingdom
Netflix’s most recent cancelation came in April 2021, when the streamer announced its historical drama The Last Kingdom would end after the upcoming Season 5. This will be the third season of the show since it moved from the BBC to Netflix, suggesting it has been another victim of the three-season cancelation trend on the streamer.
