Netflix Cancels The OA After Season 2

Another day, another one of Netflix‘s original series getting the axe. This time Netflix has canceled sci-fi/drama series The OA after just two seasons – news that is sure to send the series’ dedicated cult following into an uproar.

Variety dropped the announcement that The OA has been canceled. In the report, we also got the following statement from Netflix, regarding the show’s end, and well wishes for The OA creators Britt Marling and Zal Batmanglij:

“We are incredibly proud of the 16 mesmerizing chapters of ‘The OA,’ and are grateful to Brit and Zal for sharing their audacious vision and for realizing it through their incredible artistry,” said Cindy Holland, vice president of original content for Netflix. “We look forward to working with them again in the future, in this and perhaps many other dimensions.”

Pretty much all of the projects that Marling and Batmanglij have worked on together have ended up being niche audience cult-hit films. The pair sprung on to the scene with the 2011 indie Sound of My Voice, which was very much like The OA, with Marling starring as a women living in an LA basement, gathering a cult of followers based on the premise that she is from the future, sent back to prevent calamity. Their next film, The East (2013) also starred Marling, this time as an intelligence officer who begins to see her allegiances sway after infiltrating an anarchist group. As for The OA? The heady mystery of who Marling’s character is propelled much of season 1; the reveal that she claims to be the “Original Angel” arguably split viewers going into season 2, with season 2 introducing multiple dimensions in a full-blown sci-fi head-trip that apparently didn’t thrill as much as the intrigue of season 1.

As with any such TV series that Netflix gives the axe to, there will ironically be more interesting in The OA than there has been in a while – so if you are curious, you can check out the season 1 and 2 (or “Part I and II”) synopses, below.

Part I

The series centers around Prairie Johnson, an adopted young woman who resurfaces after having been missing for seven years. Upon her return, Prairie calls herself “The OA” (for “Original Angel”), exhibits scars on her back, and can see, despite having been blind when she disappeared. The OA refuses to tell the FBI and her adoptive parents where she has been and how her eyesight was restored, and instead quickly assembles a team of five locals (four high school students and a teacher) to whom she reveals that information, also explaining her life story. Finally, she asks for their help to save the other missing people whom she claims she can rescue by opening a portal to another dimension.

Part II

The second season follows the OA as she traverses to another dimension and ends up in San Francisco to continue her search for her former captor Hap and her fellow captives, as Prairie crosses paths with private eye Karim Washington to assist in his investigation of the surreal disappearance of a missing girl that involves an abandoned house with a supernatural history and an online puzzle game. Meanwhile, in the original dimension, a series of unfortunate events propels the OA’s five companions to embark on a road trip across America to assist the OA on her journey.

The OA is currently streaming on Netflix.