Netflix Just Cancelled Two Of Its Best New Shows

We hope you weren’t getting too invested in V-Wars or October Faction…

The two Netflix original series – which premiered on December 5th and January 23rd, respectively – have officially been canned by the online streaming giant, and will now join the likes of Messiah, AJ and the Queen, Spinning Out, Soundtrack and Daybreak in the Netflix graveyard.

It’s a sudden change of fate for both original series, given they’ve only just been released into the wild. But as The Hollywood Reporter notes, Netflix has now pulled the plug on each of them, quashing any hopes for a second season of V-Wars. Or indeed the comic book-inspired October Faction.

The former series starred Vampire Diaries favorite Ian Somerhalder, who played the part of Dr. Luther Swann. Somerhalder’s brooding character gets a front-row seat to the end of days, after a mysterious disease transforms his best friend, Michael Fayne, into a murderous predator who feeds on other humans. The series was based on IDW Publishing’s V-Wars franchise, written by New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry.

So whereas Locke & Key survived for a second season, Netflix’s other two IDW-produced drama series are no longer moving forward.

It’s a shame, of course, but this is a pointed reminder of how cutthroat Netflix can be when it comes to original programs. The online streamer tends to leverage its internal viewing data to determine whether original shows like V-Wars and October Faction have a future on the platform.

But the fact that each series scored just 33 percent and 49 percent ratings among critics and viewers, respectively, on aggregate website RottenTomatoes.com, perhaps it’s more accurate to say that the writing was on the wall. Locke & Key, by stark contrast, scored 66 percent on RT – part of the reason why it’s been given a second shot at success.