"Bridgerton," "One Piece" & "Outer Banks" Among Hit Netflix Series Not Expected to Return Until 2026

See - Sada Elbalad

31-01-2025

Yara Sameh
Netflix unveiled Thursday its 2025 series slate that includes the final seasons of juggernauts "Squid Game" and "Stranger Things" and the returns of "Wednesday", "Ginny & Georgia", "Monster", "Emily In Paris" and "The Witcher" among many others.
However, missing from the list are a number of popular shows, including the fifth and final season of "Outer Banks", Season 4 of "Bridgerton" and "The Lincoln Lawye"r, Season 2 of "One Piece", "The Gentlemen","Avatar: The Last Airbender", "Beef","Black Doves" and "3 Body Problem" as well as Season 7 of "Virgin River".
Nonetheless, not everything is final, and there could be some scheduling changes in Q4 — for instance, "The Lincoln Lawyer" S3 and "Virgin River" S6 originally were not on Netflix's 2024 slate but managed to deliver new seasons for October and December release, respectively, while The Night Agent's second season, originally on the 2024 slate, slid to January 2025.
Still, the majority of the above series that were not featured at the Next on Netflix "Wednesday" presentation — or the elaborate sizzle reel that accompanied it — will skip 2025 and return with new seasons in 2026.
Some come as no surprise. For instance, "Bridgerton" showrunner Jess Brownell has said publicly that fans should expect a two-year gap between seasons, which was the case with Seasons 2 and 3 after the second season of the Regency-era drama was released just a year and 3 months following the first.
Shows like "Virgin River" and "Black Doves" did not premiere their most recent seasons until December so not making the 2025 slate is understandable.
Still, both received renewals ahead of time, which should help shorten the gap between seasons, keeping it not much longer than a year.
The situation is similar with "The Lincoln Lawyer". While the legal drama was not officially renewed until this month, it had started preparations, with production on Season 4 set to begin in February, so the Michael Connelly adaptation could potentially pull off another quick turnaround and squeeze into the 2025 Netflix release schedule.
"Outer Banks" was another Q4 release, with Part 2 dropping in November when the action-adventure YA series was renewed for a fifth and final season.
lProduction is slated to begin in the spring, so a release in the first half of 2026 is possible.
Fans of "The Gentlemen", which has a similar spring 2025 Season 2 production start, are looking at a longer wait after the March 2024 Season 1 debut, in part due to creator, director and EP Guy Ritchie's busy schedule. The series is expected to return in 2026.
"One Piece" is believed to have just wrapped production on its second season. The post-production on the adaptation of the popular manga is extensive, so between that and the time required to get a Netflix show dubbed and subtitled, a delay until 2026 is not unreasonable. Still, that would make the gap between Season 1 and 2 two and a half years or more, a not very welcome development for fans who have been awaiting Season 2 premiere date news.
A post on Netflix's Tudum site this week about a One Piece-themed Lego set made a stir by claiming that the series' second season will 'arrive later this year.'
The actual One Piece-Lego announcement does not have Season 2 release information, and the Tudum post was subsequently edited to delete the premiere date reference.
Another live-action fantasy adventure series with a famous animated predecessor, "Avatar: The Last Airbender", started filming its second season in September and is expected to remain in production through mid-2025. That would mean a likely 2-year gap between Season 1, which was released in February 2024, and Season 2.
The good news is that the wait should not be as long for the third and final season. Like it did with "Squid Game", Netflix ordered a second and a third season of Avatar together, which translates into filming the seasons back-to-back and getting them on the air in a relatively close succession (Season 3 of Squid Game premieres June 27, only six months after Season 2.)
We haven't heard much about another Netflix genre series that received a combo Season 2 and Season 3 renewal to wrap its story, 3 Body Problem. The future of "The Watcher" has been in serious doubt after its co-creator Ryan Murphy moved his overall deal to Disney in 2023. The horror thriller, renewed for a second season in November 2022, is off the 2025 Netflix slate again and there is no indication the season will be made — at least not anytime soon.
Season 2 of "Beef" has recently begun filming. Because the show originated as a one-off limited series, it took longer to conceive a second installment. A 2026 return would make it about 3 years between seasons.
Additionally, "Stranger Things" creators Matt and Ross Duffer revealed during the Netflix presentation that the two new series from their Upside Down Pictures, "The Boroughs" and "Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen", will both premiere in 2026.