From “Archive 81” to “The Society,” these promising Netflix shows were canceled way too soon.

8 promising Netflix series that deserved more than one season

From "Archive 81" to "The Society," these promising Netflix shows were canceled way too soon.

June 26, 2026 6:49 p.m. ET

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Britt Robertson on 'Girlboss'; Mamoudou Athie on 'Archive 81'; Miles Heizer on 'Boots'. Credit:

Saeed Adyani/Netflix; Clifton Prescod/Netflix; Alfonso "Pompo" Bresciani/Netflix

The streaming era has given viewers an abundance of options, but it's also placed a lot of pressure — maybe *too *much — on shows to become immediate hits. Gone are the days when a sitcom like *Parks and Recreation *could find its footing over the course of multiple seasons.

Fans were taken aback this month when Netflix's buzzy, star-studded series *The Boroughs*, executive produced by *Stranger Things* duo Ross and Matt Duffer, was axed less than a month after its premiere, reportedly due to high production costs. The decision came despite the supernatural tale receiving generally positive reviews from critics and reportedly attracting millions of viewers in its first week. The news was a shock to those involved, including star Geena Davis, who was "baffled" by the decision.

Like its streaming brethren, Netflix has canceled dozens of shows since it began producing its own original movies and series. While many of them have disappeared into the digital ether, some were pretty good and arguably deserved another season or two.

With that in mind, we're pouring one out for *The Boroughs* and taking a look back at eight more Netflix series that shouldn't have been canceled after just one season.

Archive 81 (2022)

Mamoudou Athie on 'Archive 81'.

Quantrell D. Colbert/Netflix

*Archive 81* was arguably ahead of its time, given the recent success of *Backrooms* and other adaptations of horror stories from internet-native mediums. Based on the 2016 podcast of the same name, the series stars Mamoudou Athie (*The Drama*) as a man hired by a mysterious employer to analyze and archive unnerving videotapes recorded by a woman in 1994.

The effectively eerie and engrossing first season ends on a wild cliffhanger, setting up a potentially great second season. "It was always meant to keep going," showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine told EW. "We are always thinking about season 2."

*Archive 81* quickly hit No. 1 on Netflix's top 10 series chart, but the streamer canceled it anyway.

Every TV show canceled so far in 2026, from 'Brilliant Minds' to 'The Boroughs'

Unfinished business: 34 TV shows that were canceled after major cliffhangers

Boots (2025)

*Boots*, released in the fall of 2025, centers on a closeted gay teen (Miles Heizer) as he follows his straight best friend to a U.S. Marine Corps boot camp. Vera Farmiga costarred on the series, which is based on former Marine Greg Cope White's memoir, *The Pink Marine*. It resonated with viewers as well as Heizer, who has been open about the difficulty of coming out to his "super-conservative, religious family" in Kentucky when he was a teen.

Though Netflix asserted that it was "proud" of the series, and had worked with *Boots* producers Sony Pictures Television to extend the options for several cast members, the streamer still canceled the series after one season.

Given the Pentagon's official statement on the series, which its Press Secretary described as "woke garbage," some viewers speculated that Netflix caved to political pressure.

Dead Boy Detectives (2024)

Edwin Paine (George Rexstrew) and Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) on 'Dead Boy Detectives'.

David Bukach/Netflix

For a moment, it seemed like Netflix might be building out a world based on Neil Gaiman's *The Sandman* comics. In addition to *The Sandman* series, the streamer released *Dead Boy Detectives*, based on the comic-book characters who first appeared in an issue of *The Sandman*. It follows a pair of teen ghosts who forgo the afterlife to help a clairvoyant human solve supernatural mysteries. It even featured cameos from the cast of Netflix's *Sandman*.

To give a sense of what was taken from us when the series was canceled: Lukas Gage had a recurring role as the Cat King, a seductive character who's able to shapeshift between cat and human forms. *Dead Boy Detectives* was truly one of the most painful cancellations of 2024.

Girlboss (2017)

Norm Macdonald and Britt Robertson on 'Girlboss'.

Karen Ballard/Netflix

Based on the memoir by Sophia Amoruso, *Girlboss* starred Britt Robertson as a fictionalized version of the beleaguered Nasty Gal founder, a scrappy rebel who's struggling to make ends meet and decides to open her own vintage clothing business.

Created by *Pitch Perfect* writer Kay Cannon, the series had an incredible ensemble that included RuPaul, the late Norm Macdonald, Johnny Simmons, Melanie Lynskey, and Cole Escola. Like many TV comedies, *Girlboss*' first season was really promising and it likely would've gotten even better in season 2. Unfortunately, it was canceled just two months after its release.

The Irregulars (2021)

'The Irregulars'.

Many networks and studios have tried over the years to expand the world of Sherlock Holmes with various spinoffs, but few of them have sticking power. Netflix's own *Enola Holmes* is one of the rare exceptions, but the streamer's *other* relatively recent effort was promising, too. *The Irregulars*, created by Tom Bidwell (2018's *Watership Down*), focuses on the Baker Street Irregulars, a group of street kids who occasionally helped Holmes with his mysteries.

In Bidwell's version, the kids are teens, and they're London's only hope in stopping a supernatural threat. As Bidwell told *** *at the time, "The supernatural element brings a kind of Victorian horror to the show that's very different to what you'd expect in the Sherlock Holmes novels." Unfortunately, despite mostly positive reviews, *The Irregulars* was canceled.

Lockwood & Co. (2023)

'Lockwood & Co'. Parisa Taghizadeh/Netflix

Created by Joe Cornish, the director of cult sci-fi favorite *Attack the Block *(2011), *Lockwood & Co*. is based on Jonathan Stroud's YA series of the same name. The paranormal procedural takes place in an alternate version of Britain that's been plagued by a deadly epidemic of ghosts for decades until it's discovered that young people can sense the supernatural entities before adults. So, the adults start employing teens to find and get rid of ghosts, delaying the digital revolution that transformed society.

As Cornish told EW ahead of the show's debut, there were "some incredible set pieces and twists and new directions to come" in a potential second season. Sadly, Netflix killed the series.

The Midnight Club (2022)

'The Midnight Club'. Eike Schroter/Netflix

After delivering horror hits for Netflix with *The Haunting of Hill House* and *Midnight Mass*, creator Mike Flanagan teamed up with Leah Fong to try his hand at YA horror with an adaptation of Christopher Pike's *The Midnight Club*. Set at Brightcliffe Hospice, the series centers on terminally ill teens who tell each other spooky stories, all of which are based on other Pike novels.

Flanagan initially teased multiple seasons for the series, noting that "Pike has 80 books, so we have a lot of unused material to pull from," and that season 1 deliberately leaves some questions unanswered for the next season. After Netflix canceled *The Midnight Club*, Flanagan shared his regrets, along with several of the plans he and Fong had for season 2.

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The Society (2019)

Kathryn Newton on 'The Society'. Seacia Pavao/Netflix

A modern riff on *Lord of the Flies* starring Kathryn Newton, Gideon Adlon, and Kristine Froseth, *The Society* follows a group of Connecticut teens whose school camping trip is canceled, forcing them to return home — where they discover that all of the adults have disappeared.

Netflix ordered a second season of the series, which ended on a huge cliffhanger, before reversing its decision in 2020 amid concerns over scheduling (the series had a large ensemble) and rising costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

- TV Development

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW TV”