Netflix has decided to cancel the supernatural detective thriller series Lockwood & Co after only one season. The streaming giant made this decision because the show’s viewing numbers weren’t enough to justify a renewal, in accordance with the company's widely criticized approach to show cancellation.
According to the Variety report that broke the news, Netflix was pleased with the show and its performance: Lockwood & Co received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike, with a 92% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94% Google users rating.
However, the show’s failure to attract more viewership in the three weeks it was on Netflix’s Global Top 10 shows spelled the end for it. Lockwood & Co is the latest victim of Netflix’s aggressive cancellation of shows that fail to attract large audiences, especially if they are expensive to make – a list that includes Warrior Nun and Neil Patrick Harris’s Uncoupled.
In January, the streamer’s CEO, Ted Sarandos, gave an interview where he explained the rationale behind these decisions. He stated, "A lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget."
In a release announcing the cancellation, Complete Fiction, which produced the television series, appreciated Jonathan Stroud, who wrote the book the series is based on, and tagged the project "one of the most rewarding experiences" of their careers.
The statement read, "With heavy hearts, we announce that ‘Lockwood & Co.’ will not be returning for a second series. Making this show was one of the most rewarding experiences of our careers and we will forever treasure it."
"Being trusted by the supremely talented Jonathan Stroud to adapt his outstanding series of books was an honour and a privilege. Working with him as closely as we did across the development, production and release of Lockwood & Co has made him a friend, and part of the Complete Fiction family, for life."
Complete Fiction also appreciated the show’s fans and their support for the first season. It stated, "We cannot thank you enough for how much you have embraced, celebrated and loved the show. You are the kindest, most creative group of people online and it has been so gratifying to see how your passion for these characters and this world has brought you all together."
The release went to encourage the fans to embrace the books, even though the television series has ended. Lockwood & Co followed a trio of teenagers who ran their own ghost-hunting agency in competition with older, more established agencies in an alternate reality Britain.
Lockwood & Co Season 1 is still available on Netflix.
