Following the cancellation of the highest-rated Netflix show, Warrior Nun, the hashtag #CancelNetflix has trended on Twitter, with people reminiscing about the other shows that Netflix has axed over the years: First Kill, Gypsy, Sense8, Fate: The Winx Saga, The Society (and the list goes on). Netflix boss Peter Friedlander has come clean about the streaming service’s cancellations of popular shows.
In a recent interview with Variety, Netflix’s U.S. and Canada scripted series head Friedlander commented on the platform’s controversy over dropping its popular shows after one or two seasons, despite years of production and a number of budgets used.
“I think you will hear this from many folks, but the cancellations are the hardest part of this job and when I think about the work that both the creators and all the people at Netflix put into them, we care passionately about them, and it’s not something that we take lightly.” he reiterated.
Given that most of its cancelled shows have landed in the global top 10, Friedlander says that the top 10 is just a place for “people to find shows, discover shows, and talk about shows,” but it does not have any effect on decisions made at a boardroom level when deciding what shows to keep and to scrap.
He said, “The Top 10 really serves in that way, and I think that’s something that speaks to the popularity in that moment. And then when we have to make our decisions. We are always looking at many variables, too. The Top 10 is just one variable in that.”
Friedlander has been tight-lipped about the real reasons they keep canceling fans’ favorite shows, which continues to give them a disadvantage in the streaming aspect. They may be a large platform that can stand on its own now, but it is the subscribers who have made them what they are today. And fans want them to remember that.
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