Netflix is the reason Freeform canceled Shadowhunters: Report

According to the Shadowhunters showrunners, Netflix was the reason Freeform canceled Shadowhunters after three seasons.

Netflix is the reason Shadowhunters is ending, according to a report from Metro UK. The report cites comments from the showrunners of the series, Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, as the source of this news. Netflix and Freeform have not confirmed their statements.

Netflix was the international distributor of Shadowhunters. While the series aired on Freeform in the US, the series was available on Netflix around the world. New episodes are added to the streaming service the day after they aired in the US.

According to the report, Slavkin and Swimmer claim that Netflix decided to drop the international rights to the series after season 3. Basically, Netflix pulled their portion of the funding for the series, and Freeform and the production company, Constantin, needed to find another international distributor to continue funding the series.

Last year, Freeform canceled Shadowhunters midway through the third season. They expanded the third season and gave the show a two-hour season finale, which is scheduled to air on May 6, 2019. There was and still is a big fan campaign to save the show, and many fans reached out to Netflix to try to convince the streaming network to save the show. Slavkin and Swimmer have known Netflix would not be the one to save this show, though.

Again, this information has not been confirmed by Netflix or Freeform, and they likely won’t comment on it at all.

This is not all Netflix’s fault, though. Netflix simply decided not to carry this series anymore, and Freeform and Constantin could have found another partner to carry this series internationally. Based on this information, it seems like Netflix was paying for the majority of this series, and it clearly wasn’t paying off for them, no matter how good the show was received.

If the show was profitable, surely, some other network would have stepped up and put the money up to continue making new episodes of the series. There’s been plenty of time for anyone to step up, and another network has not done that.

I understand why fans will be mad to hear this news, and it’s unfortunate if it’s true. On the other hand, TV and film is big business, and that’s what happens. Without Netflix’s support from the beginning and with the first three seasons, this series might not have even happened or lasted as long as it did.

We’ll let you know more about this developing news when we find out.