5 Netflix Show Cancellations In 2026 That Didn't Deserve Their Fate
Sadly, Netflix has become synonymous—more often than not—with a frustrating viewing experience. The streamer’s programming mainly consists of short seasons with years in between releases, like Bridgerton (2020) or Wednesday (2022). There are also shows that become one-season wonders, never quite getting a chance to find their audiences and grow, like The Society (2019) or First Kill (2022). Sometimes, a show with multiple seasons, with potential for more and an audience to follow it, like The Recruit (2022), ends abruptly.
So, it’s rare when shows and their fans get to know well in advance that a show—like Outer Banks (2020), for example—will end with a final season and a series finale. Every TV show can’t come to a satisfying end. Still, it’s unfortunate that so many Netflix shows end as a surprise to the creatives and/or the fans. Just this year, Netflix has canceled several series, including The Abandons (2025) and Terminator Zero (2024) after one season, and The Vince Staples Show (2024) after two seasons. Those aren’t even all of the most shocking cancellations to come from the streamer lately. You can watch the following TV shows on Netflix.
As an admirer of Meghan Markle’s advocacy work, I was always going to tune into With Love, Meghan. I’m glad I did because it’s very sweet in its dedication to intentionality. Some of the cooking and hosting ideas aren’t all that universally affordable or accessible, but I don’t think I ever anticipated them to be. I enjoyed watching Markle complete the crafts and recipes with her celebrity guests, in the same way I did with Selena Gomez on Selena + Chef (2020).
With Love, Meghan became a rather comforting show to turn on for the vibes. It made me feel like I could cook and craft if I really wanted to, and that is oddly motivational. Strangely, the lifestyle series has all but disappeared after its first two seasons and With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration (2025). Earlier this year, a spokesperson for the Sussexes said told Variety, “With Love, Meghan will continue as seasonal specials.” So, I guess there is some solace in knowing that the lifestyle series will continue—just in an entirely different format.
I am such a fan of Michelle Buteau—her acting, her comedy, and her writing. I think she’s excellent, so I was immediately saddened by the news that Survival of the Thickest would end with its third season. It was renewed for that final season in May 2025, and it’s set to stream in July 2026. I believe that this comedy-romance series, inspired by Buteau’s memoir with the same name, has at least three more seasons of potential in it. I would watch Mavis’s (Buteau) evergreen fight for body positivity and inclusivity in the fashion industry until the end of time.
There are so many characters and relationships that I don’t want to say goodbye to yet. Regardless of whether Mavis and Luca (Marouane Zotti) get back together, I need to see the friendship between Mavis, Khalil (Tone Bell), and Marley (Tasha Smith) forever. This show is so good at romance, but it’s almost even better at platonic love stories in friendships. I don’t want TV to lose that. But at least Survival of the Thickest gets one more season to end on its own terms. I just wish it were more than eight episodes, but so it goes, loving a streaming show.
The Night Agent ending is such a strange and weirdly predictable situation. It’s strange because its third season just aired in February, but by May, Netflix had already announced that it would end with its upcoming fourth season. That’s a fast turnaround for fans to process. Deadline reports there has been a slip in viewership between Season 2 and Season 3.
I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the exit of Luciane Buchanan as Rose Larkin after the second season. The romance between Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) and Rose became such an audience-pulling staple for the series, and you can really feel the absence of it in story and tone. I’m curious to see if The Night Agent can restore any of that momentum when it returns for its unexpected final season, which is in production.
I find the surprise announcement that The Lincoln Lawyer will end with its upcoming fifth season interesting for a number of reasons. One of which is that the series is based on Michael Connelly’s book series, which currently contains eight books. However, The Lincoln Lawyer Season 5 will adapt the seventh, Resurrection Walk. Therefore, Netflix’s decision to end the series ahead of that eighth book feels strangely abrupt, cutting the show’s potential to expand.
However, that sentiment coincides with the turnaround that feels oddly similar to The Night Agent. The Lincoln Lawyer returned with its fourth season in February, after being renewed for Season 5 in January. There was no clarification at the time that the fifth season would be the final one. That news came in May, when creator and co-showrunner Ted Humphrey and co-showrunner Dailyn Rodriguez said, per Variety, “All good things must come to an end, but thankfully sometimes how they come to an end is up to us.” So, even though it seems like the news feels surprising to me, at least the creatives get to end the legal drama on their terms.
Can I be so honest? I think that Emily in Paris should never end. Or, it can’t end until Emily Cooper (Lily Collins) has visited every single place in Europe and fallen in love with another, stunningly attractive guy in all of them. There really is no reason for this show to end, but its timeline does feel oddly similar to another Darren Star show: Sex and the City (1998). That show also aired for six seasons, but that was far from the end of the characters’ lives. Their stories continued in the theatrical releases of Sex and the City (2008) and Sex and the City 2 (2010) and the sequel series, And Just Like That… (2021), which aired for three seasons.
So, I have unfounded hope that Emily Cooper, Mindy Chen (Ashley Park), and everyone else could pop up in another project down the line. Mostly, though, I think I’ll miss the consistency of Emily in Paris. Like some of the other shows on this list, it’s one of the few shows on Netflix that released new seasons on a more frequent basis. Besides 2023, it has had a new season every year. Now that it, and other consistent shows have been canceled, I think that’ll be even rarer.
