Why In the Dark ended after season 4 (and why it still hurts)
By Reed Gaudens
In the Dark premiered on The CW in April 2019 and starred the incredible Perry Mattfeld as Murphy Mason, an abrasive blind woman who finds herself in the center of a crime. Before long, she’s tangled in a life of crime she never could have imagined.
The series might not have been a ratings or mainstream smash in the same vein as other shows on The CW, like The Flash, Riverdale, or All American. But like soap opera reboot Dynasty, the small but mighty crime drama found an audience when new seasons streamed on Netflix.
Last year, In the Dark came to an end on The CW, and fans binge-watching the series on Netflix might still be wondering why the network canceled the crime drama. Did it have to do with ratings, or the death of a certain beloved character? Here’s the real reason behind the cancellation.
Why did The CW cancel In the Dark?
Unfortunately, In the Dark was canceled by The CW due to the network being purchased by Nexstar. In 2022, The CW underwent a lot of changes, including former majority owners Warner Bros. and CBS Paramount selling the network in order to help make a profit for the first time in its history. Because of this shift in power, over 10 shows were canceled.
While the changes are still raging on at The CW as a new guard has stepped in to overhaul its content strategy and output, several fan-favorite shows were casualties of a simple financial decision that was made beyond their control. Fans attempted to ignite renewal campaigns that ultimately went nowhere since the decisions were final.
Thankfully, In the Dark was one of the few shows canceled in The CW’s great culling that was able to create a satisfactory ending. The series filmed two endings: One for a season finale (in the event season 5 was a possibility) and one for a series finale, which we received in September 2022.
In the Dark shouldn’t have killed Max
Even though In the Dark was able to craft a series finale that wrapped up Murphy’s winding story, fans of the series have still been hurting after its cancellation. Obviously, that has to do with the show ending at all. It’s never easy to lose a show that you enjoy watching and brings you joy. But that also has to do with the death of Max, a character that should not have died and deserved better.
By In the Dark season 4, Murphy and Max had finally gotten to the hard-fought place in their relationship where they saw eye to eye and were preparing to plan a life together. It wasn’t easy, but they got there. Max’s death was used a device to push Murphy toward killing Josh in the series finale. Max didn’t need to die to wrap up the story this way.
Sure, Murphy needed to have a complicated place to land. She made choices throughout the series that didn’t warrant the typical happy ending, but did she need to lose someone else? Especially Max? No, she didn’t, and that’s why it makes saying goodbye to In the Dark so hard. We’ll never have the chance to see this decision be rectified. Instead, we have to live with that.
Watch all four seasons of In the Dark on Netflix.