‘Shadow and Bone,’ ’Designated Survivor’ Rank as Netflix’s Most-Watched Canceled Shows | Analysis

For years, Netflix subscribers and TV nerds have been haunted by the same question: What does it take to cancel a Netflix original show? Thanks to Netflix’s recently released transparency report, we’re one step closer to answering that question.

The company has often stated that its cancellations come down to cost versus viewership. But exactly what does that ratio look like for some of the streamer’s biggest titles?

TheWrap reviewed the 1,000 most-streamed titles on Netflix from January to June of 2023 and found the most-streamed originals that Netflix has canceled. This list came from the transparency report Netflix released at the end of 2023 that ranked a total 18,214 movies, miniseries and show seasons that were globally watched during this time period for at least 100,000 hours or more. The results revealed that at least three canceled shows — “Shadow and Bone,” “Designated Survivor” and “1899” — performed remarkably well for the streaming giant. Two of those series even landed in the top 100 most-streamed titles list.

Even more interestingly, some series that had ended their runs months if not years ago, such as “Resident Evil” and “Mindhunter,” still reached a significant audience.

TheWrap’s analysis doesn’t answer exactly why each original was canceled. Netflix, a notoriously secretive company, especially when it comes to viewership habits, did not respond to TheWrap’s request for further explanation, pointing instead to a recent post about the engagement report: “Success on Netflix comes in all shapes and sizes, and is not determined by hours viewed alone. We have enormously successful movies and TV shows with both lower and higher hours viewed. It’s all about whether a movie or TV show thrilled its audience — and the size of that audience relative to the economics of the title.”

Nevertheless, the transparency report offers some insights about when it’s time to cancel a big-budget investment and when it makes sense to renew.

Engagement Report Methodology

Because the data Netflix provided to the media spanned a six-month period in 2023, the engagement report isn’t the most reliable indicator of which originals released during this time performed best overall. That measurement remains Netflix’s top 10 most-popular list, which measures how Netflix titles from four categories (English language TV, non-English language TV, English language film and non-English language film) performed based on the views of each title in their first 91 days.

It should also be noted that Netflix divides its television streaming titles by seasons rather than by series name. For example, “Breaking Bad” appears on the engagement report five times — once for each of its five seasons.

The Most-Watched Cancellations

Two canceled originals appear in the 100 most-watched titles of the engagement report: “Shadow and Bone” and “Designated Survivor.” Each represents a different factor that often leads to cancellations by the network: relatively low viewership compared to high cost and behind-the-scenes disputes.

Season 2 of “Shadow and Bone” holds the honor of being the most watched canceled Netflix original during this time period. The second installment of the fantasy action series accumulated a reported 192.9 million viewing hours after its premiere in March 2023 and ranked as the 26th most-watched title.

The first season of “Shadow and Bone” also scored a place on the coveted top 100 list, though it only came in 92nd place with 99.5 million hours viewed. By most metrics, it seemed that “Shadow and Bone” performed ideally: It was widely watched and its second season was watched more than its first, which is not always the trend when it comes to canceled series (more on that in a moment).

However, “Shadow and Bone” returned at exactly the wrong time to be a high-budget fantasy show. Delays caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes reportedly contributed to the decision to end the series. That’s the case with another series that appears on the top 1,000 list but not the top 100, Kim Cattrall’s “Glamorous.” The comedy ended after one season though it was watched 36.6 million hours and ranked in 484th place.

As widely watched as the fantasy drama may have been, it likely did not perform as well as Netflix hoped compared to its budget. Though an official budget for the series has not been released, executive producer Shawn Levy told Variety that the fantasy series, which involves ships sailing over sand and epic, CGI-heavy fights, “wasn’t a low budget show, but it’s also not working with a ‘Game of Thrones’ budget.”

Behind-the-scenes disputes, another common reason for cancellations industry-wide, was the reasoning behind the second title to land on the top 100 list, “Designated Survivor.”  The title performed well despite being canceled for so long. Netflix first saved the series from ABC in 2018 and agreed to give it one more season. Netflix then canceled the political thriller in 2019 due to complications with the actors’ contracts.

The first season of the series was the only one to break the list, securing the 94th most-streamed spot with 98.5 million hours. Season 2 came in 188th place with 67.2 million hours, followed by Season 3 in 660th place with 29.2 million views.

This dropoff from season to season validates Netflix’s decision to ax the drama five years ago. More importantly, it shows that acquisitions work for the streamer and that canceled shows can still bring in big numbers. The former is a trend that appears in the data time and time again. From “You,” which originally premiered on Lifetime and had the sixth most-watched season during the first half of 2023, to “Manifest,” the NBC supernatural drama that had the 10th most-watched season, series that Netflix has saved from other networks and streamers continue to be big hits.

Unexpected hits with long tails

“Designated Survivor” isn’t the only long-canceled show that continues to find an audience. The first season of David Fincher’s serial killer thriller “Mindhunter” appeared on the top 1,000 list. At 27.6 million hours, Season 1 secured 726th place. Season 2 did not make the 1,000 title cutoff.

Considering that “Mindhunter premiered in 2017 and has not released new episodes since 2019, that level of viewership is impressive. In 2023, Fincher confirmed that the series was dead. “I’m very proud of the first two seasons. But it’s a very expensive show and, in the eyes of Netflix, we did not attract enough of an audience to justify such an investment,” Fincher said in an interview with Forbes.

Though it only premiered in November of 2022, months before this monitoring period took place, the multi-lingual German thriller “1899” falls into this category as well. At 51.8 million hours, it was the 279th most-watched title, making it the fourth most-watched cancellation on this list. The ambitious series’ budget versus its viewership probably led to the decision to end the drama, but it’s still interesting to see an abandoned large project rank so high.

The cancellations that make sense…

At the risk of infuriating stans on X, the engagement report does make a good argument for why certain shows were canceled. A good example of this is the fan favorite fantasy series “Warrior Nun.”

Despite campaigning from fans, Season 1 of the series was only viewed for 24.2 million hours during this period and came in 865th place. The batch of new episodes that were released closer to this time period performed even worse. Season 2, which was released in November of 2022, saw 21.3 million hours and came in 1,004th place.

This same audience collapse can be seen in Shion Takeuchi’s adult animated comedy “Inside Job.” Season 1 of the series only saw 21.5 million hours and came in 997th place, and Season 2 — the batch of episodes new during this period of time — came in 1,231th place. On the surface, those numbers aren’t terrible for an adult animated comedy. Both seasons of “Inside Job” performed better than any season of “Big Mouth” during this time period (Note: “Big Mouth” did not release a new season at the start of 2023).

… and the ones that won’t

For all the decisions that make sense thanks to the viewership numbers, there are so many more that remain murky. Why was the Australian comedy “Wellmania” axed? It brought in 41.3 million viewership hours and seemed to have a modest budget. That’s better viewership than all but Season 7 of the Canadian comedy “Workin’ Moms.” Exactly how many viewers would have made this series worth a Season 2?

After Netflix canceled “Resident Evil” in the summer of 2022, it was watched for 25.2 million hours in 2023. Is that enough to make the streamer reconsider the cancellation? Or are these numbers nothing compared to the figures the streaming giant hoped for a year after the premiere of a big-budget property?

What about 33.8 million hours? That’s how many hours the British supernatural series “The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself” was viewed after it was cut short in October of 2022.

Netflix’s engagement report is a step in the right direction when it comes to streaming transparency. But even with the additional data, the streamer’s renewal process remains a murky mystery.

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