Netflix cancels The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance after one season

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance made extensive use of puppets to bring its fantasy world to life. It was like nothing else on Netflix.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance released its first season last summer on Netflix. A prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson movie, Age of Resistance was set in the world of Thra, and told the story of the peaceable Gelflings rising up to resist the tyrannical Skeksis. The show made extensive use of puppetry, which produced some otherworldly, memorable visuals:

The last episode ended on a cliffhanger, with the resistance finally getting underway, but we’ll never see it happen. Netflix announced today that the show is cancelled. “We are grateful to the master artists at the Jim Henson Company for bringing The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to life for fans around the world,” the company said in a statement. “We’re thankful to the executive producers Lisa Henson and Halle Stanford, and Louis Leterrier, who also directed all episodes, as well as the writers, cast and crew for their outstanding work and thrilled they were recognized with the Emmy this weekend.”

Indeed, Age of Resistance did just the other day win a Creative Arts Emmy for Best Children’s Program, so this must sting.

Executive producer Lisa Henson put out her own statement:

"We can confirm that there will not be an additional season of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. We know fans are eager to learn how this chapter of The Dark Crystal saga concludes and we’ll look for ways to tell that story in the future. Our company has a legacy of creating rich and complex worlds that require technical innovation, artistic excellence, and masterful storytelling. Our history also includes productions that are enduring, often finding and growing their audience over time and proving again and again that fantasy and science fiction genres reflect eternal messages and truths that are always relevant. We are so grateful to Netflix for trusting us to realize this ambitious series; we are deeply proud of our work on Age of Resistance, and the acclaim it has received from fans, critics and our peers, most recently receiving an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program."

As for why the show is getting cancelled, we don’t have the full story, but an inside source speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently called the show an “expensive disappointment,” citing it as one of the reasons the company pushed out longtime exec Cindy Holland, who had a hand in bringing it to life.

The pandemic couldn’t have helped matters, either: production on Age of Resistance was complicated, and pulling it off with safety precautions in place may have even more difficult than it is on a normal set.

There are several books and graphic novels that explore the world of Thra already out there. Perhaps the story of Age of Resistance could be finished through something like that.

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h/t Io9