Netflix users have been left taken aback by the abrupt cancellation of The Boroughs after less than a month, and lead star Geena Davis is just as shocked by the news.
Beetlejuice actor Davis said she was “terribly disappointed” to learn the mystery sci-fi show, produced by Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer, would not be returning despite being in the service’s top 10.
"Fortunately, the producers, who became our dear, dear friends, were able to tell us before the news came out, and we're all terribly disappointed," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "Honestly, I don't know what happened."
The cancellation came as a particular shock, considering the show – released on 21 May – appeared to be gaining word-of-mouth traction.
“I think it's probably rare for a show to not get picked up and to have it announced that it's not being picked up while it's still in the top 10,” Davis said, adding. “We didn't expect that."
However, she urged those considering watching the show to give it a go as it doesn’t have a cliffhanger ending as the creators, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, were advised to make season one “its own thing”.
“There's a tiny hint at the end that maybe everything isn't fixed, but it is a complete story,” she said, and suggested her co-stars, including Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman, Alfre Woodard, Clarke Peters and Denis O’Hare, should reunite in a completely new series, playing different characters.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Boroughs was cancelled due to its expensive production budget, with alleged projections putting each episode at higher than $10m (£7.5m)
The series follows a group of residents at a seemingly idyllic retirement community who discover a sinister supernatural force lurking beneath the surface.
According to Deadline, which first reported the cancellation, Netflix decided not to proceed with a second season despite prior conversations around renewal, as well as opening a season two writers’ room.
People familiar with the matter told the outlet that filming seasons two and three back-to-back had also been discussed.
However, despite its 97 per cent critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes, viewing figures appear to have fallen short of expectations for a big-budget Netflix sci-fi release – and while it cracked the top 10, it didn’t become the runaway success bosses had hoped.
It was the Duffer brothers’ third show since Stranger Things ended in December: they also produced Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen and animated spin-off Stranger Things: Tales from '85.
