Netflix hasn’t just become a mainstay in the live-action world with the likes of Stranger Things, Squid Game, and more, but the platform has created countless original animated series that became fan-favorites. While many of these animated properties would receive multiple seasons, with the likes of Castlevania, Devil May Cry, Bojack Horseman, and Arcane receiving several seasons, one beloved show only got one. In a wild twist of fate, the show in question wasn’t a smash hit right out of the bat, but has seemingly turned things around to become a success story years after its series finale.
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Inside Job first premiered on Netflix in 2021, hitting the scene with an animation style similar to that of Rick and Morty. Starring the likes of Lizzy Caplan, Christian Slater, John DiMaggio, Tisha Campbell, and more, the series would garner eighteen episodes before it was canceled. Ironically, the series was initially confirmed to return for a second season, but Netflix decided to reverse its decision. In the time period between 2023 and this year, 2026, Inside Job is pulling in ratings bigger than its premiere. During this time period, the animated series has been viewed for 139.9 million hours, which proves that there are still viewers discovering the story of Dr. Reagan Ridley.
Inside Job’s Inside Job
For those who didn’t have the chance to check out the adult animated series, Inside Job followed main protagonist Dr. Reagan Ridley, working for a secret part of the government that handles conspiracy theories that are actually real. Reagan was the “straight man” of the group, routinely finding herself flustered when it came to the other government employees she worked with, including the likes of Rand, Brett, and Gigi. On top of showrunner Shion Takeuchi, Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch and Bojack Horseman’s Mike Hollingsworth also helped bring this show to life, making the cancellation hit all the harder.
In 2021, we here at ComicBook.com had the opportunity to speak with series creator Shion Takeuchi about the politicalness of the series and how he, surprisingly, looked at the show as non-political, “Oh, you know, I actually feel like the show isn’t super political, because it exists in this world that’s so high concept and absurd, that it doesn’t have much of a tie to the politics of our real world. But the conspiracies that we did explore that are recognizable kind of come from a golden age of conspiracy theories, like JFK, the moon landing, that are mainstream in the sense that everyone has heard about it. And we wanted to kind of do our funny, weird, creative take on the why and the how of those conspiracies to kind of revive them in a new light and make you question the premise of the conspiracy that you’ve always been told.”
As of the writing of this article, Netflix hasn’t confirmed if it ever plans to return to Inside Job, though bringing back classic animated franchises has been a big ticket item these days. The likes of Regular Show: The Lost Tapes, Adventure Time: Side Quests, King of the Hill, and Futurama are just a handful of successful comeback stories.
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