The Boroughs is officially entering retirement.
According to a report from Deadline, Netflix has canceled The Boroughs, the new sci-fi series produced by The Duffer brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, after one season.
After its premiere on May 21, The Boroughs, which stars Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, and more, got off to a rocky start ratings-wise. It also struggled to hook fans like Stranger Things, which is what everyone was comparing the show to heading into its premiere.
The news that The Boroughs season 2 isn't happening should not come as a shock to fans of the series. While the series did set up a second season with an interesting ending in the season 1 finale, it was nowhere near the hit that I think Netflix was probably banking on in the lead up to the premiere.
Apparently, the news arrived as a shock for the cast, crew, and creative team of The Boroughs. Deadline reported that the writers room had already started working on the season 2 story, and there were discussions ongoing to bring back the cast for another season. Well, that's not happening anymore.
The Boroughs season 2 had potential to expand this lore
It's obviously a bummer for fans of the series that The Boroughs won't be continuing. I don't think the show was bad by any means, and I think it had a hard time living up to the narrative that it was going to be a Stranger Things for an older demographic. It's hard for any show to live up to those expectations. Basically, every show that's been the "next Stranger Things" has flopped out of the gate because, well, there are not many shows like Stranger Things, especially in terms of buzz, marketability, etc.
Personally, I feel like that mismarketing or misunderstanding from fans, however you want to frame it, is unfortunate because there was real potential for this show to continue. While the first mystery was wrapped up, there was still a lot more to this story. We never really got that sci-fi explanation we were looking for with this show.
What was Mother? Was she an alien? Are there more monsters?
We learned how Blaine and Annaliese started The Boroughs after finding Mother and curing aging, disease, etc. We still don't know, though, how Mother came to be in those mines in the first place.
There are some definite E.T. vibes with The Boroughs, but I feel like there is a lot more that could be explored. We also don't know, definitively, if Sam was still alive after the explosion in the season finale.
Unfortunately, we'll never know, and that's a big bummer. Of course, I understand that Netflix is a business, and it's expensive to make a show like The Boroughs that has these intricate sets, high production costs, and special effects/CGI. With a big cast, too, it's hard to find ways to cut those costs.
Because Netflix shows almost never move to other streamers after they're canceled, this really feels like the end of the line. We'll share more news about The Boroughs as we find out. For now, we're left with a lot of hype for a promising show that fizzled out without making much of an impact.
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