Brutal Netflix cull as four shows cancelled - and one axed just before its final season
Netflix has announced that four of their original series, ranging from historical drama to fantasy, will not be renewed for another season.
Ahead of the 2025–2026 television season, Netflix has confirmed the cancellation of four shows, leaving viewers devastated. The streamer's latest wave of cuts includes fan favourites and internationally acclaimed dramas, with two of the four shows failing to land final seasons.
Among the most shocking cancellations is fast-paced spy adventure series The Recruit, which premiered in 2022 and quickly earned a dedicated following. Noah Centineo played a rookie CIA lawyer thrown into the murky world of international espionage on the show, which was praised for its satirical look at the US intelligence agency. The Recruit even scored a strong 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but has been axed after just two seasons.
Main star Centineo shared his thoughts on the decision with the Hollywood Reporter, saying: "It is what it is. Netflix, they have a certain mandate that they need to fill, and I'm very proud of the show, very grateful to our audience. We have a pretty strong cult following. And with Netflix, it just didn't really fit what it was that they needed, I suppose. And so onto the next, I guess."
Another casualty of this round of cuts is Territory, an Australian neo-Western drama that centred around the power dynamics of a rich family in the Outback.
The six-part series followed the Lawsons as they fought to hold onto their billion-dollar cattle empire while dealing with threats from rival ranchers, corporate miners, and Indigenous land claims. Netflix has pulled the plug after just one season, leaving fans with unanswered questions.
Fantasy drama The Sandman is also coming to an end, with its upcoming second season now confirmed to be its last. The show was based on Neil Gaiman's 1989–1996 comic series.
Its storyline followed Morpheus, the personification of dreams, as he escaped captivity and tried to restore balance to his mystical realm. Despite strong performances from Tom Sturridge and an enthusiastic fanbase, Netflix has decided not to continue the adaptation beyond its second chapter.
Neil Gaiman has been blamed for this decision as he recently came under scrutiny for sexual assault allegations. One fan took to social media to blast the author, writing: "F--k you, Neil Gaiman. You make one of the most enjoyable pieces of fiction I've ever experienced, let me fall in love with the universe, characters, events, everything about it, and then go and do some heinous shit.
"All the while leaving breadcrumbs within your own stories that we all probably could have seen coming. I've felt every emotion reading, watching, and listening to Sandman. I loved it."
Rounding out the list is The Empress, the German historical drama based on the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. The show enjoyed a period of extreme popularity when it was first released in 2022, as it became Netflix's second-most watched series globally for two weeks and finished as the seventh most popular non-English language series that year. While The Empress has secured a third and final season, Netflix has confirmed that there will be no continuation to the story beyond that.
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