Netflix Cancels Archive 81 After First Season

Once again, Netflix has pulled the plug on a fan-favorite show after just a single season. With as many original titles as the streamer releases each year, it should come as no surprise that quite a few projects need to be cancelled, but that doesn’t make things any easier for fans to stomach. This time around, it’s the mysterious horror series Archive 81 getting the ax from Netflix. Arriving on the service earlier this year, Archive 81 was only given ons season before Netflix cancelled it on Wednesday.

Archive 81 tells two stories at once, following an archivist restoring a set of damaged videotapes and the documentary filmmaker that the tapes belonged two back in 1994. The show premiered on Netflix around the globe on January 14th and delivered some solid numbers for Netflix in its first couple of weeks on the service. 

According to Netflix’s own numbers, Archive 81 performed pretty well after its debut. In the first week, Netflix subscribers tuned in to watch more than 22 million hours of the series. That number spiked to nearly 71 million in the second week.

Archive 81 stars Mamoudou Athie and Dina Shihabi, as well as Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chan, Ariana Neal, Matt McGorry, and Martin Donovan. The series was created by Rebecca Sonnenshine. You can check out the official synopsis for Archive 81 below.

“Archive 81 follows archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994. Reconstructing the work of a documentary filmmaker named Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi), he is drawn into her investigation of a dangerous cult at the Visser apartment building. As the season unfolds across these two timelines, Dan slowly finds himself obsessed with uncovering what happened to Melody. When the two characters form a mysterious connection, Dan becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago.” 

Are you disappointed to see Archive 81 cancelled by Netflix? Let us know in the comments!