Fans of Love on the Spectrum got to witness such a beautiful thing in the relationship between Abbey Romeo and David Isaacman, who were first featured on the Netflix dating show in Season 1. Suffice it to say, I was devastated when, just days after Season 4 premiered on the 2026 TV schedule, it was confirmed they’d ended their relationship. I asked Love on the Spectrum creators Cian O’Clery and Karina Holden how they reacted to the news, and what they said changed my perspective on the situation.
Abbey Romeo and David Isaacman were not one of the featured couples on Love on the Spectrum’s fourth season, which premiered on the Netflix schedule April 1, but all seemed fine between them when they made a guest appearance in the season finale. However, on April 10, they released a joint statement to confirm their breakup after nearly five years together. When Cian O’Clery and Karina Holden sat down with CinemaBlend to discuss the most recent season, I had to know if they were as heartbroken as I was over the news, but what they said surprised me. O’Clery said:
I guess it's sad in a way, but at the same time, we want what's best for them. This is the world of dating and relationships, you know? People fall in love, people break up, people find other love. I think there's a lot of audience members who are sad to not be able to follow their story anymore or to feel like that fairytale love story has ended. But, you know, if it's best for them, it's best for them, and that's what's important to us, or to me anyway. It's sad, but people move on.
Cian O’Clery makes a good point. It can’t be a fairytale romance if it’s not the best situation for both people involved, and I totally get him wanting the best for Abbey and David, even if that means going their separate ways.
It’s still disappointing after seeing over the course of the first three seasons of Love on the Spectrum how much they grew together, getting to travel with them to Kenya and seeing how much they cared about each other. But Karina Holden pointed out that breakups are inevitable when you’re making a show about love. She told me:
I think that the whole experience of growing and learning and forming relationships and friendships, it's all part of what the show is, and we've seen people the whole way through the series, even when we were making the show in Australia and now four seasons in the US, we've seen people go through those milestones and make those decisions, and it's all got to be part of the journey of life that we all go through.
While their words don’t necessarily make me less sad about the heartbreak Abbey and David have had to experience, I do have to agree that it’s more important that they’re doing what’s best for themselves, even if — especially if — it’s the hard thing to do.
All four seasons of Love on the Spectrum — one of the best shows to binge on Netflix — can be streamed with a Netflix subscription.
