Why Jupiter's Legacy Was Cancelled on Netflix Despite Season 1 Success

Less than a month after the series premiered, Netflix revealed that it was scrapping plans for a second season of Jupiter's Legacy and were abandoning the Mark Millar based project for a different plan. Rather than continue the story that ended on a cliffhanger, Netflix will take another Millar creation, Supercrooks, and turn it into the second season, effectively making Jupiter's Legacy an anthology show based on various Millar-themed properties. After this sudden change/cancellation was announced many assumed that the series was cancelled because of viewership, but it's apparently a much bigger deal than that.

In a big exposé about the show's conclusion, The Hollywood Reporter went in depth on the behind-the-scenes problems that plagued the series. As previously reported, the show went through a major change as original showrunner Steven DeKnight was replaced by executive producer Sang Kyu Kim. According to the outlet, DeKnight and Netflix clashed on the budget for the show, with the former advocating for $12 million per episode and the streamer settling on $9 million per episode. These costs only ballooned however with a source claiming that in the end Netflix was spending $15 million per episode.

After the change in regime, both on Jupiter's Legacy and at Netflix itself, the series found itself in an extensive post-production timeline with Dark Crystal and Lupin director Louis Leterrier brought in as a consultant; however, "it was seen as too late to save the troubled show," says THR. Ahead of its pause in production and the long post-production the series reportedly had a $130 million budget which ballooned to $200 million in the end.

The changing of the guard at Netflix apparently played a major part in the series' end, in addition to the tremendous cost, with new "head of global TV" Bela Bajaria reportedly putting it under the microscope (and eager to put their own stamp on the show).

To make it all even more interesting, Jupiter's Legacy reportedly had major viewership in its first two weeks according to Nielsen's streaming rankings. The tracker reported that some "696 million minutes of view time" were used on the series in its first week, rising to 1.02 billion minutes of viewing time from May 10 to 16.

"Given where we're going next, we've made the tough call of letting our incredible cast out of their show commitment as we continue to thoughtfully develop all realms of the Jupiter's Legacy saga," Millar said in a statement posted to Twitter. "We're confident we'll return to it later and just want to say thanks to you guys for your continued support and to the cast and crew who made this look so great."

The strangeness of the entire situation continues to unfold.