Netflix are coming off the back of arguably their greatest summer ever in terms of original content, with the streaming service dropping a near-constant string of movies and TV shows that both dominated the most-watched list and captured the imagination of subscribers around the world, with highlights being Extraction, Da 5 Bloods, Warrior Nun, Cursed, The Old Guard, Project Power and the second season of The Umbrella Academy.
However, with August now drawing to a close, it looks like the adulation that’s greeted their output over the last few months has come to an end and been replaced with indignation. Netflix faced huge backlash from fans when they canceled popular shows I Am Not Okay With This and The Society despite previously renewing both for second runs, while the controversial and massively inappropriate poster for French coming-of-age drama Cuties resulted in a public apology and a petition to pull the movie entirely that’s gathered nearly 300,000 signatures.
The company themselves have now become the latest target of cancel culture, and to add insult to injury, it was recently announced that sci-fi series Altered Carbon was also being axed. Of course, this has only added fuel to the fire, and subscribers can’t believe that another high-profile original has been canned.
Netflix is on some bullshit as of late. Altered Carbon S2 was better than Altered Carbon S1. For what reason did this show deserve to get cancelled? https://t.co/ejFMrKPjOe
— Tomiwa of Melbourne (@TommyTheIllest) August 26, 2020
This is sad news, Altered Carbon was such a good show.#ScrewYouNetflix #AlteredCarbon https://t.co/iOcj3ze0sp
— KhaosByDesign (@KhaosByDesignUK) August 26, 2020
ALTERED CARBON WAS SO GOOD ESPECIALLY S2 WTF I HATE EVERYTHING
— O 🫒 (@AneelaKinRit) August 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/jacindaisfluffy/status/1298710007039455233
https://twitter.com/I_Am_ErikaG/status/1298709520936402944
https://twitter.com/FaithMars/status/1298709441605332992
Altered carbon has been cancelled? Noooooooooooooo
— Eve 🫧 (@hawau__a) August 26, 2020
Seriously @netflix Altered Carbon, I Am Not Okay With This, The Society, are you done cancelling my favorite shows? Please?? How about Big mouth huh? It's terrible and it has SIX seasons, I mean c'mon. I'm not even counting with Daybreak and The OA, but ffs… https://t.co/LY8PFciNTs
— ❂cass❂ | 🪽४🏴☠️⃤ (@cassfcky) August 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/TheSaltThrone/status/1298708971797098496
What do you MEEAAAAN NEXTFLIX IS CANCELLING ALTERED CARBON!!!! NOOOOO
— valar morghulis (@__tijaramae) August 26, 2020
https://twitter.com/strkofwntrfll/status/1298707778869977088
https://twitter.com/Al0neeeee/status/1298707128530505728
Even if you’ve never watched a single minute of Altered Carbon, a quick glance at any footage will instantly let you know that it’s a very expensive production, with rumors that a single episode costs between $7-10 million to put together. Coupled with the fact that viewership numbers have never been all that impressive, with the first season averaging just 1.5 million viewers over the first three days, it seems that Netflix simply decided the show wasn’t worth the massive investment.