Why was The Order canceled on Netflix?

Fans of stories that involve witches and werewolves will have been drawn immediately to The Order. This Netflix series brought us different takes on various supernatural creatures, but sadly, it was canceled after two seasons.

This is one of those shows that horror and supernatural fans wanted to see return. The first season followed Jack Morton, a Belgrave University student who ends up joining the secret society called The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose. He is pulled into a world of magic and monsters.

It turns out that he planned some of it. He is after answers about his mother’s death, but he ends up learning far more than he bargained for. Not only does he uncover a secret society of witches, but he finds out there are also werewolves out there. What happens when he ends up becoming one of them?

Why Netflix canceled The Order

Netflix did give a clear reason to cancelling the series. It does suggest that it was linked to financial reasons.

The way Netflix shows work, the costs of production go up exponentially at the third season. For a show to go past season 2, it needs to be a successful one in terms of viewership. That means people need to binge all the way through a season within the first seven days or so.

Of course, Netflix has a problem promoting some shows. This was arguably one of them. It didn’t get the promotional attention that it deserved. Despite a great first season, not so many fans were alerted to the second season coming out, and so they didn’t binge-watch it.

This is a series that cost a lot of money to make. We just have to look at all the special effects thrown into it.

Looper also makes it clear that it was a financial decision. Netflix finds newer shows a lower risk than continuing older ones. While broadcast shows see the higher costs with new shows due to set creation, streamers tend to see the higher costs later on due to the pay of everyone involved going up considerably.

The pandemic caused a problem for The Order

We also need to factor in that the second season came out in 2020. The world shut down. Yes, even the production world. It was much harder to get casts together, and that led to streamers and networks cancelling a lot of shows. Those that did manage to come back were unceremoniously canceled. Netflix even “unrenewed” some shows, such as The Society.

Had The Order created a similar buzz to The Umbrella Academy, it would have likely stuck around for at least another season. It wasn’t meant to be, and it’s unlikely that Netflix would ever revisit it to reverse the cancellation.