It would appear that not even Netflix are immune to the financial impact that the Coronavirus is set to cause the entertainment industry, with Hollywood bracing itself for a loss of up to $20 billion in revenue, which is coincidentally roughly the same amount the streaming service had pledged to spend on original content this year alone.
Having already renewed fan favorite shows I Am Not Okay With This and The Society for second seasons, Netflix swiftly backtracked on their decision and canceled them altogether, something that didn’t go down too well with subscribers. Expensive sci-fi series Altered Carbon was also canned shortly after, as reports swirled that the company were trying to reign in their rampant spending.
It was claimed that Altered Carbon was initially planned to run for five seasons, and while that obviously won’t happen at Netflix anymore, we’re now hearing that the show might not be completely dead just yet, with the key creative team reportedly set to shop the series around in the hopes that somebody else will pick it up.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us Netflix is developing a Witcher prequel, which turned out to be correct – Altered Carbon could be revived at a new home if there’s enough interest in it. Of course, two of the major drawbacks are budget and visibility, with a single episode rumored to cost $7-10 million and viewing figures being relatively weak compared to Netflix’s other high-profile originals.
There’s very few outfits that could even afford to fund a new season, especially with belts around the major studios set to tighten more than ever before, and while a revival can’t be definitively ruled out just yet, renewing Altered Carbon would certainly be a huge gamble for anyone willing to take the risk.
