The Society Creator Calls Netflix Cancellation “Upsetting And Abrupt”

Seeing a Netflix show get cancelled after a season or two isn’t really much of a surprise anymore, considering just how often it actually happens. What is surprising, however, is a Netflix show getting cancelled after the streaming service had already decided to renew it. That unfortunate fate befell two popular dramas at the same. Netflix axed freshman shows The Society and I Am Not Okay With This after previously announcing their second season renewals, blaming the ongoing coronavirus pandemic for the reversal.

As you can probably imagine, the casts and crews of these shows took the news incredibly hard, especially since they already thought that they’d been given the green light for more episodes. In the case of The Society, some of the second season had already been filmed. According to The Society creator and showrunner Christopher Keyser, the news was understandably painful and troubling.

“We spent the last bunch of months getting ready to go back again, dealing with all the COVID protocols,” Keyser told Variety. “And then I got a call from Netflix saying, ‘We have made this decision.’ It was obviously pretty upsetting and abrupt.”

“There were ongoing conversations — we knew that there were challenges for this,” Keyser said of the delayed production. The new season “was meant to be shot mostly in the summer — but we were heading back into fall and winter. And then they made the decision that it was too much. That’s, I guess, how it goes.”

“I can’t pretend I’m surprised,” the showrunner added. “I know we had many months of conversations about the challenges of producing in this environment.”

There were conversations being had about the ability to shoot The Society in the midst of the pandemic. Most of the show is shot outside, which helps a lot, “But to our disadvantage, we have a large cast and scenes often with a fair number of people,” Kesyer explained.

Unfortunately, given that The Society was created and produced in-house at Netflix, the odds of it being shopped to another network or streaming service is pretty unlikely.

Are you disappointed by the cancellation of The Society and I Am Not Okay With This? Let us know in the comments!