Netflix has reversed its decision to go ahead with a fourth season of the women’s wrestling dramedy GLOW and instead has cancelled the show.
The streamer, which had initially ordered a fourth and final season shortly after the show’s third had dropped onto the service early last fall, cited concerns about coronavirus as the main reason behind the decision. The series should have been in production this past spring/summer for an expected release later this year or earlier next year.
In a press release, Netflix stated –
We’ve made the difficult decision not to do a fourth season of GLOW due to COVID, which makes shooting this physically intimate show with its large ensemble cast especially challenging. We are so grateful to creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Jenji Kohan and all the writers, cast and crew for sharing this story about the incredible women of GLOW with us and the world.
Show creators Flahive and Mensch were also quoted in the release saying –
COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show. Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW. We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone. There’s a lot of shitty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don’t get to see these 15 women in a frame together again. We’ll miss our cast of weirdo clowns and our heroic crew. It was the best job. Register to vote. And please vote.
GLOW starred Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin at the head of a group of women wrestlers who are just starting to find fame as part of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling. The series is a highly fictionalized version of the behind-the-scenes of the actual hit wrestling television series Glow from the early 1980s. Marc Maron also starred as real life Glow creator Sam Sylvia.
GLOW is not the first series to have a new season order cancelled due to Covid. Netflix has also recently cancelled the YA dramas The Society and I Am Not Okay With This citing coronavirus concerns, while TruTV has reversed its decision for a third season of its comedy I’m Sorry. ABC recently cited COVID as the reason when it cancelled its order for a second season of the detective series Stumptown last month.
And even with production slowly resuming with coronavirus precautions in place, there still may be more shows being cancelled due to pandemic concerns coming. Some shows may be close to running out the time that they contractually have their cast for and renewing those options may be a cost that they are not willing to pay for. Other shows, like GLOW, may have too much of a physical element that would production a risk, even with coronavirus protection protocols in place.
