After releasing it with almost no marketing and a persistent online fan campaign, Netflix canceled Warrior Nun. What makes this especially egregious is Netflix, the only profitable streaming service, lacked the faith the series needed to hit the way it should.
Warrior Nun fans are livid with Netflix after the cancelation because they were doing the streamer’s work for them. Fans rallied in an online campaign to raise awareness for the series. It worked, too. Not only did Warrior Nun Season 2 break into the Netflix Top Ten, Season 1 did as well. The show was finding new viewers without Netflix even trying to bring them in. Frankly, the decision to cancel it, from a public relations perspective alone, seems foolish given that Netflix reportedly reaps profits in the billions. At a time when its Streaming Wars competitors are axing content right and left, if Netflix believed in Warrior Nun, it could become a kind of zeitgeist success story Netflix needs. It has excellent metrics, but not everything in entertainment can be quantified. Remember, Seinfeld only survived cancelation in its first season because some Network Big Dog’s kid loved it.
Netflix Is Ahead of the Curve, but Other Streamers Can Catch Up
While Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery and others are struggling with the cost of success in the streaming space, a service like Prime Video is the fiercest competition. It took Netflix a long time and a lot of spent capital to build the kind of production infrastructure it needs. Yet, as successful as it is, it doesn’t have a series like House of the Dragon or The Mandalorian. Even people who don’t watch the shows know about “Game of Thrones‘ incest family” or “Baby Yoda.” In part, Netflix series suffer because of the binge model over week-to-week release. These shows can’t eat up two months of pop culture discourse.
Still, as legacy media companies fall back on more tried-and-true strategies than streaming, Netflix might want to steal from their playbook. At least, the idea that some shows deserve a chance to wrap up their stories gracefully. Again, if every penny counted, it would make more sense. Yet, with Netflix making billions each quarter, it could afford to, at least, give a show a few more episodes so the story it hosts is complete. However, for shows like Warrior Nun that find a fanbase despite all the obstacles in its way? They require a little faith.
Shows like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and other prestige-era classics all started with low-to-middling ratings. However, because the networks believed in the show or the storytellers (or both), they got additional chances. On Netflix, it makes even less sense to look at immediate viewership without, at least, gauging viewership over time. Warrior Nun may not bring in the subscribers, but it could help keep them.
Netflix May Not Even Really Know What a Show or Film’s ‘Value’ Is
Netflix’s success almost seems despite itself. The streamer canceling a promising series after its second season is nothing new. From Altered Carbon to Lucifer (a show Netflix “saved” after a fan campaign), two seasons is about all the Big Red N will give most originals. Some percentage of Netflix’s subscriber base joined the service because it “saved” some series, like Arrested Development or Manifest, its most recent rescue from ABC. But the only profitable streamer should take a lesson from the one broadcast network that has never been profitable: The CW.
Netflix’s problem isn’t an easy one. It has to get to the “next level” of an industry that it is, essentially, inventing. Yet, it should remember that it paid $1 billion to host the Arrowverse and other series from The CW. The former president of that network, Mark Pedowitz, never canceled a series without giving the producers a final season to wrap up their story. Netflix can’t burn money, but if the always-broke network could afford to do this, it can too. Allowing the storytellers to deliver a “complete” tale makes it more likely to find new fans months and years after release.
Of course, as a streamer, Netflix has another advantage The CW doesn’t have. It isn’t bound by TV rules. It could do a two-hour finale special or even a series of shorter features like Werewolf by Night instead of a full season of TV. Netflix can do anything it wants to, including renewing Warrior Nun, if only it had a little faith.