Why Netflix canceled The Society before season 2

Netflix canceled The Society before season 2 started filming

The Society has officially been canceled at Netflix. After renewing the series for season 2 last year, Netflix pulled the plug on The Society season 2 before the filming had started on the second season.

The cancellation news was announced recently. I Am Not Okay With This, another popular teen Netflix show, also got the ax, somewhat surprisingly but definitely not as surprising as The Society’s cancellation.

Both shows made the list of the Netflix shows that shouldn’t have been canceled this year.

Cast and crew were supposed to start filming the new season in March. Filming was shut down before it could even get started because of the coronavirus pandemic. There were plans in place to film later this year, but that’s not happening now.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the first time a series has been publicly renewed at Netflix and then canceled before that season was released.

Understandably, fans of The Society are furious about the show’s cancellation and are left to wonder why Netflix canceled The Society before season 2.

While Netflix hasn’t said exactly why the show was canceled, we’ve learned a lot of new information in the days following the cancellation and have been able to put a few things together.

Basically, it sounds like the logistics and the cost of filming during the coronavirus pandemic were too much for Netflix.

According to a report from Variety, Christopher Keyser, the creator of the series, commented on the cancellation. Keyser said they were working with Netflix to find a way to film the second season, but the cost of production was increasing because of the pandemic.

"“We were dealing with Netflix and the rise in the budget and all of that kind of stuff,” Keyser said. “There were ongoing conversations — we knew that there were challenges for this.”"

Based on Keyser’s comments, it looks like there were three reasons that contributed to the show being canceled.

1. Production was going to be more expensive 

The first reason, as just mentioned, was the rising cost of production. The show needed a bigger budget to accommodate all the cast and crew in a safe way. We don’t know what those measures were, but I think we can expect all shows to test the cast and crew regularly, hire more specialists to reduce the interaction among cast and crew members, and find a way to keep all the cast separate while they weren’t filming, which means more trailers, fewer people on set, and more logistical challenges.

2. The Society has a big cast 

Along with that, Keyser also noted the large cast and scenes with a lot of characters as a reason that Netflix canceled the show. Given the current situation, it makes sense that the studios and various unions want as few people involved as possible to mitigate the potential spread of the virus. Having a large cast and needing to include that cast in those scenes appears to be a problem right now.

3. Changing the story to match the season

Lastly, Keyser also mentioned to Variety that the second season was supposed to be more of a summer season. They planned to film throughout the summer, and most of the scenes were going to be outside.

After the delay, the show was looking to film, again, in the fall and winter, so that was going to change some of the things that were happening in the season.

I don’t know how much that’s actually a factor in Netflix’s decision. The big cast and the show getting more and more expensive were likely more important to Netflix.

Obviously, this is a big bummer. I didn’t think Netflix would be canceling shows like this, but here we are.