And so the curse continues. Over the weekend, Netflix released the crushing, if sadly inevitable, news that yet another of its smash-hit fantasy series had been cancelled. In this case, it was British YA supernatural show Lockwood & Co, which — as its showrunner so shadily called out on social media — had every right to survive thanks to its high viewing figures and critical acclaim.
Netflix’s umpteenth fantasy production getting canned one season in is only overshadowing the release of its new epic K-drama, Black Knight, as well as leaving folks wondering about the fate of those on the bubble like Shadow and Bone. Looking slightly further into the future, though, the biggest casualty of the streamer’s never-ending genre purge could be an upcoming project that is not only one of Netflix’s most expensive shows to date but also its chance to resuscitate a tainted IP.
The most highly anticipated new fantasy series in the works at the company has to be Avatar: The Last Airbender, the live-action rendering of the beloved Nickelodeon animated series. Seeing as the last time the story was recreated ended up in 2010’s god-awful remake — which M. Night Shyamalan can try and defend all he likes, but it ain’t gonna wash — Netflix has been careful in doing right by the original so far, fully committing to a suitably diverse cast and all-round authenticity, in contrast to the offensive white-washing displayed in the movie.
The way is clear for Last Airbender to tick all the boxes for fantasy-starved streamers everywhere, then, as well for as it to receive strong critical notices too. And yet history has shown us that if it fails to hit some nebulous metric — that apparently has something to do with completion rates — even something as splashy as the Avatar reboot could fail to make it past its initial eight episodes. Which, being known to cost $15 million a pop, have already set Netflix back a cool $120 million.
Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn’t have a release date yet, but fans wait with baited breath to see if it will be another Wednesday or a Warrior Nun.
