Netflix subscribers with a soft spot for the fantasy genre have been conditioned to live in a constant state of fear, concerns that have proven to be consistently well-founded. Despite winning rave reviews and scoring strong viewership numbers out of the gate, Half Bad: The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself has become the latest to bite the dust after a single season.
Adapted from the novel by Sally Green, the first eight (and ultimately only) episodes dropped on October 28, and the show proved popular enough to rank as one of the platform’s Top 10 most-watched originals during its first seven days on the platform, while respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 93 and 92 percent from audiences underlined its instant favorite status.
The story finds the illegitimate son of the world’s most dangerous witch being targeted for extinction when he turns 16, after it’s decided there’s too great of a risk that he’ll end up following in the footsteps of his family. The potential was there for Half Bad to run for years, but it’s ended up as the latest smash hit Netflix original to be tossed onto the scrapheap.
While viewers have grown accustomed to seeing shows they’ve heavily invested in having their legs cut right out from underneath, the fact people aren’t entirely surprised by the news doesn’t mean they’re not furious about it.
The mighty algorithm has determined that cracking the global Top 10 and being lavished in near-universal praise isn’t enough to warrant a second season of The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself, but one of the most obvious knock-on effects is that those crossing their fingers in the hope of Warrior Nun being renewed may have just broken out in a colder sweat than usual.
