Netflix has once again reminded us of its most polarising habit: commissioning ambitious animated shows, hyping them for months, launching them with noise, and then quietly cancelling them before they’ve even had a chance to breathe. This time, three titles have been swept off the slate after just one season: Exploding Kittens, Good Times, and Zack Snyder’s Twilight of the Gods.
On paper, all three had strong foundations.
Twilight of the Gods was Snyder’s big mythological swing, a costly, visually ambitious series that ended on a cliffhanger hinting at a vast, sprawling roadmap. Exploding Kittens carried pop-culture recognition and came from Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, two of TV comedy’s most reliable creators. Good Times held emotional weight as one of Norman Lear’s final projects.
But streaming is ruthless. If the numbers don’t flare up immediately, even a well-crafted show is treated like a failed experiment. None of the three titles managed to crack Netflix’s weekly global Top 10, and that was enough for the platform to cut the cord.
And this is where the larger issue lies. Netflix’s animation slate looks massive on paper, new seasons of Devil May Cry, Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, and Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, but the churn is becoming unsettling. Viewers are increasingly afraid of getting invested in shows that may not survive long enough to finish their stories. Creators, too, are watching years of effort dissipate because the algorithm didn’t smile on them quickly enough.
The result?
A platform that feels busier than ever, but emotionally thinner. Lots of premieres. Very few commitments.
Maybe that’s the real “Netflix Original” now: one season, big cliffhanger, no closure. And that’s a loss, for artists, for audiences, and for the idea that stories deserve time to grow.