GLOW Star Alison Brie Calls Sudden Cancellation “Really Hard”

When Netflix cancelled GLOW in 2020, reversing their previous decision to renew the series for a fourth season, fans were devastated — and so were the series’ stars. Not only was the show beloved by those involved, but the cancellation came during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic with quarantines and various other restrictions keeping people apart. It’s that isolation aspect of things that series star Alison Brie says made GLOW‘s suddenly cancellation “really hard” along with the lack of ability to get closure from the series with how it all ended.

Speaking with Collider about her new series, Apple TV+’s Roar, which was created by GLOW creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch and all features fellow GLOW star Chris Lowell, Brie opened up about the show’s sudden cancellation and how difficult it was for her.

“It was really hard. It was especially hard because it all happened during COVID, when everybody was quarantining away from one another,” Brie said. “The show was so physical. It was really about all of us connecting on a physical level and really feeling like a sports team. We were so in it together. So, to go through the show’s cancellation apart, and extremely apart, just felt really strange. It’s part of what made working on this so great because I got that closure that I couldn’t really get when we first learned of GLOW‘s cancellation. I got to be back on set with Liz and Carly and Chris, and also a ton of people form our crew — the wardrobe department, hair and makeup, and sound. Anya Adams, who directed the episode, directed an episode in Season 3 of GLOW. So, there was a lot of joy and excitement, just to be reunited with my buds and my family from GLOW. It did give me some catharsis there.”

Brie also said that Roar, which is an anthology series based on a 2018 short story collection of the same name by Cecelia Ahern and tells stories darkly comedic feminist tales of women’s experiences, even with its crazier moments, still doesn’t quite top some of the experiences — and costumes — from GLOW.

“I was on set in my dead body outfit, and I turned to Liz and Carly and was like, ‘It doesn’t get weirder than this. I think this is the weirdest costume I’ve ever been in,’” Brie said. “And Liz goes, ‘Really? What about Zoya as Scrooge?’ And I was like, ‘You’re right. GLOW was way weirder.”

Brie isn’t the only one of GLOW‘s stars who seems to have found closure and come to terms with the series’ demise. Last year, Betty Gilpin spoke about how she has come to terms with things, focusing more on having done the series, as well as the film The Hunt, in the first place.

“I think even though we got canceled, it’s like, ‘Yeah, we still did it though,’ And The Hunt is a movie that meant so much to me and that part meant so much to me and there are parts in that movie where I really felt like, ‘Oh, I did the soul thing,’” Gilpin said. “I feel like sometimes you do a play, sometimes your soul comes out in a room and is recognized for a second, and then the air changes and you’re terrible again and it’s all bad and the whole front row’s asleep, but you did it, for one second. And I’m like, we did three seasons. The Hunt came out in theaters for two days. I have an Ann Coulter impression. I never filmed it.”

Brie’s new series, Roar, is now streaming on Apple TV+. GLOW is available to stream on Netflix.