Petitions are a very strange thing in today’s information and technology-heavy world, because it doesn’t usually matter who they’re aimed at or what they’re petitioning for, the subjects never really tend to pay any attention. These days, social media campaigns are the preferred method for fans wanting to get a point across, as evidenced by disenfranchised Justice League supporters willing the Snyder Cut into existence thanks to a relentless two and a half year movement.
On the other hand, petitions are kind of just… there. People might very well sign them in huge numbers, but Brie Larson is still here to stay as Captain Marvel, Anne with an E is very much not coming back to Netflix despite 900,000 subscribers demanding otherwise, and the chances of Danny DeVito replacing Hugh Jackman as Wolverine are sadly nonexistent.
Netflix recently canceled popular shows I Am Not Okay With This and The Society despite already renewing both for a second season, and it would be an understatement to say that fans were not happy about the decision. Almost as soon as they’d been unceremoniously yanked from the airwaves, wouldn’t you know it, a petition to renew the former appeared that’s so far barely squeaked past 5,000 signatures in six days, which aren’t exactly numbers that will have Netflix quaking in their boots.
Cult sci-fi series Altered Carbon was canned as well recently to the chagrin of a lot of folks, and now the mind-bending epic is also looking to drum up a groundswell of support that seems destined for failure like so many other petitions before it. A quick search on Change.org shows that multiple pleas have sprung up already, calling for Netflix to reverse their decision, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like the streaming giant will change their mind here.
As well as reportedly being one of their most expensive shows to produce, the viewing figures simply weren’t worth the investment. The first season of Altered Carbon drew in just 1.5 million viewers in the first three days it was available and 2.5 million in the first seven, and numbers for the second run have never been released, which leads you to believe that they may have been even lower. Looking at it in black and white, the show just wasn’t popular enough with the wider subscriber base to justify the huge cost. It’s a shame, to be sure, but the numbers don’t lie.
