Update: Another Netflix show is coming to an end, with Workin' Moms set to conclude after its seventh season next year
Netflix is pretty ruthless when it comes to canceling shows. The streamer has no problem cutting loose promising projects, even when well-respected talent is attached. However, usually a show gets at least one season on Netflix to make its case, but the fate of four series has just been decided without any of them airing a single episode.
As confirmed by Variety, Netflix has killed four animated shows: Wings of Fire, Antiracist Baby, With Kind Regards From Kindergarten and Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You. None of these series ever saw the light of day on Netflix. All four of them have been axed without even debuting one episode on the service.
Wings of Fire was an adaptation of the popular children's novel series of the same name by Tui T. Sutherland. The fantasy series centers on dragon tribes warring over a lost treasure. To date, there are 15 books in the mainline series as well as a handful of spinoff titles. Ava DuVernay was attached in an executive producer role.
Antiracist Baby was based on a book of the same name by Ibram X. Kendi and would have been a collection of vignettes designed to examine racism from a child-friendly perspective. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You was another animated series based on a book from Kendi, but has also been scrapped. It was envisioned as a companion series designed to run alongside a new adult-focused show called Stamped From the Beginning, which will mix documentary footage and scripted scenes and is currently in post-production.
Finally, With Kind Regards From Kindergarten was a feature film adaptation of a book by Adam Kline. The novel tells the story of two close friends who are ripped apart when one of them loses their imagination. It also featured pirates, monsters and creepy animatronic dolls. Curiously, this project had never been publicly announced. This makes its confirmed cancelation the first time we’ve actually heard about its very existence.
These four cancelations come in the wake of Netflix axing its long-in-development animated adaptation of comic book series Bone last month. Following this decision, the series creator, Jeff Smith, fired back at the streamer on social media in the form of a comic strip that expressed his frustration.
While Netflix regularly cancels in-development projects behind the scenes it does seem like right now its animated portfolio is taking a real beating. The reports of turmoil at Netflix’s Animated Kids & Family division could be to blame. The Wrap recently claimed “several high-profile projects have been unceremoniously canceled” in the wake of a major departmental shakeup. These four shows are likely the latest projects to be impacted by this.
The list of Netflix shows canceled in 2022 continues to rapidly expand, which is only adding to the underfire streaming service’s woes. The streamer confirmed its first drop in subscriber numbers for a decade earlier this year. Netflix has also faced backlash after announcing it will be implementing an ad-supported tier and cracking down on password sharing before the end of the year.
The good news is that Netflix has a new no.1 movie that seems to be keeping subscribers engaged, even if critics are less than impressed. And Netflix is doing test screenings for shows and movies before they are released for select subscribers. While that probably won't help Netflix figure out when to cut things off before they spend, it could help the streamer manage its marketing budget better.
In other streaming news, we're really excited to watch Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers online and Yellowstone prequel 1932 casts Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. We've also got all the PGA Championship 2022 live stream news, as Tiger's back in it.
