If you’re like me, some of your favorite shows have gotten canceled. It’s something I’ve experienced repeatedly, and each time another cancellation is announced, I’m still flung into the five stages of grief.
I think these shows are still worth watching, despite getting cut short. So, here’s a list of four shows that got canceled, but still make for great watches.
“Our Flag Means Death” (2022-23)
“Our Flag Means Death” is a historical fiction comedy that follows Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby), “the Gentleman Pirate,” as he learns the ways of piracy and sparks a romance with the dread pirate Blackbeard (Taika Waititi).
The cancelation of this show is essentially my villain origin story. I started watching the show when the first season came out and instantly fell in love with the characters, comedy and wholesomeness of the show.
Despite the second season performing pretty well, HBO Max canceled the show at the beginning of 2024. Thankfully, the creator, David Jenkins, ensured fans would get to see a happy ending for the characters by giving season 2 a conclusive ending.
I was heartbroken when the cancelation was announced. This is my favorite series of all time, and I think fans of the show can all agree that there is something magical about it. It created a safe space for so many individuals, especially within the queer community, that still exists today despite the cancelation.
If you are looking for a fun, heartfelt series, this would be a great show to watch. Plus, Jenkins has stated he would love to bring the show back if another streaming service picked it up, so there may still be hope for the show’s future. At least that’s what my delusion lets me believe.
“Dead Boy Detectives” (2024)
This supernatural show, set in the same world as “The Sandman,” follows two ghost detectives, Charles Rowland (Jayden Revri) and Edwin Payne (George Rexstrew), as they solve paranormal cases. I started watching this show because I had seen “The Sandman” and enjoyed it, but I ended up liking this show a lot more. It has some dark elements within it, but is also lighthearted with lively and infectious characters.
I love the concept of ghosts solving murders, and this paired with the amazing dynamic between Charles and Edwin made this a really fun watch. After the show was released, many fans flooded Netflix’s Instagram comments with “renew ‘Dead Boy Detectives,’” but their efforts were in vain when Netflix announced the cancelation in August 2024.
I was once again heartbroken by this turn of events as just as I was falling in love with the characters and their dynamics. I wanted to see more from them, but their story got cut short. I was especially devastated because the romantic relationship between Charles and Edwin only just started being explored at the end of the season, and now we’ll never get to see what could have come from it.
Besides this plot line, the seasons arc is pretty conclusive, so I would still recommend watching this show as it’s a fun time and a good watch for the spooky season.
“Kaos” (2024)
A modern retelling of Greek mythology, “Kaos” tells the story of intersecting Greek myths including Orpheus and Eurydice, Caeneus and Prometheus as Zeus (Jeff Goldblum) scrambles to retain his autocratic rule.
I honestly wasn’t expecting much from this series, but it blew me away. Greek mythology has been around for centuries and as such has been adapted hundreds of times. It’s pretty hard to find adaptations of Greek mythology that manage to reinvent the stories creatively and successfully, but this show does it all.
The way “Kaos” is able to transform classic myths into something new and modern, while also staying true to the original stories, is very impressive. I’m someone who’s always been fascinated by Greek mythology, so I loved getting to see many stories I was familiar with in a new light while getting exposed to new myths I didn’t previously know.
I was so sad to hear this show got canceled because the first season built such a strong world for the show to live in. I was excited to see where they would go with it. However, I still think the first season makes a great watch, especially if you’re a lover of Greek mythology.
“Julie and the Phantoms” (2020)
This show follows Julie (Madison Reyes), a teenage girl who starts a band with three ghosts.
Again, I didn’t go into this show expecting much, especially since it’s more geared toward kids, but it instantly won me over. While it has some cringey moments, it’s also grounded in a sincerity that adds so much heart to the series. Plus, the original songs in it are all bangers.
This was my first experience with a show I really cared about getting canceled, so it was tragic when the announcement of its cancelation came out in December 2021.
While this show may not be for everyone as it leans into a campy, silly vibe, I would really recommend giving it a chance because it’s fun, wholesome and has so much heart.
Why are these shows getting canceled?
All of these shows were canceled for the same reason: lack of viewership. This is essentially the only thing that drives renewals of shows today.
However, the standards of what a streaming service considers enough viewership for a renewal is starting to get out of hand. It seems like unless a show is a global phenomenon, like “Stranger Things,” “The Bear” or “The White Lotus,” fans need to watch a show as many times as possible to actually get it renewed.
Additionally, it's important to note that every show in this list includes a significant queer storyline. While many shows continue to get canceled left and right, it seems shows with more queer representation seem to be the first ones on the chopping block.
This could be because these shows inherently have smaller audiences since they target more marginalized communities, but this goes to show that cancelations of shows should not solely be based on viewership numbers. While the viewership may be lower than more popular shows, many of these series have a stronger fanbase than bigger shows, and I think that’s maybe even more important than a simple viewership count.
