Netflix Cancels Critically-Acclaimed Series After Only One Season

Don't expect a sophomore season of The Brothers Sun. On Friday, reports confirmed that Netflix will not be continuing The Brothers Sun, an action-dramedy series which starred Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh. This comes almost two months after the series, which is co-created by Glee and American Horror Story co-creator Brad Falchuk and newcomer Byron Wu, first made its debut on Netflix.

According to reports, although The Brothers Sun was met with critical acclaim and spent five weeks in Netflix's English-language Top 10, it still performed "modestly" by the platform's standards. 

What Is The Brothers Sun About?

In The Brothers Sun, when the head of a powerful Taiwanese triad is shot by a mysterious assassin, his eldest son, legendary killer Charles "Chairleg" Sun (Justin Chien) heads to Los Angeles to protect his mother, Eileen (Michelle Yeoh), and his naive younger brother, Bruce (Sam Song Li) — who's been completely sheltered from the truth of his family until now. But as Taipei's deadliest societies and a new rising faction go head-to-head for dominance — Charles, Bruce and their mother must heal the wounds caused by their separation and figure out what brotherhood and family truly mean before one of their countless enemies kills them all. 

The cast of The Brothers Sun also included Joon Lee, Highdee Kuan, Alice Hewkin, Jenny Yang, Johnny Kou, Jon Xue Zhang, Zhan Wang, Madison Hu, Rodney To, and Ron Yuan.

What Would The Brothers Sun Season 2 Have Been About?

in a previous interview, Wu revealed that there were aspirations for a second season of The Brothers Sun, hinting at the time that it would depend on Netflix's viewership metrics.

"Listen, we'd love to do Season 2. Let's hope we get those Netflix numbers going. And for me, I'm just hoping we get season two. This is my first, well I don't know, show. I think my only other credit on IMDB is like an AFI short film." 

Will Netflix Have More Licensed Shows?

Following the smash success of Suits on Netflix, the streaming platform revealed that they hope to make deals for more licensed programming in the future, in hopes of capturing a similar sort of magic. The streamer has already made deals for a few HBO shows, with Ballers and Insecure becoming popular on their platform.

"This legal drama originally premiered on USA Network in 2011 and ran until 2019. Despite having been available on other streaming services, the debut of seasons one to eight on Netflix in July broke viewing records," Netflix noted in its results. "Licensing has always been an important part of our programming strategy. As the competitive environment evolves, we may have increased opportunities to license more hit titles to complement our original programming. We believe this will deliver additional value for our members (i.e., engagement), as well as for rights holders who benefit from the increased awareness and revenue that Netflix delivers, in addition to the new life that success on Netflix can drive."

What do you think of Netflix cancelling The Brothers Sun after one season? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

h/t: Deadline