Word broke yesterday that Syfy’s zombie-pocalypse series Z Nation will not be returning for a sixth season. That news comes as somewhat of a surprise considering that lower-rated Van Helsing was just recently renewed by the network. Z Nation has been at a series low point as far as viewership this year, but I was thinking that it would still get at least one more season. The show is relatively inexpensive to produce and another year would get it past the eighty episode mark which would make it more attractive for syndication. But Syfy does not own this show and only makes money from the advertising revenue which is driven by the same day Nielsen ratings. Apparently the show’s studio The Asylum was not able to work out a deal with the network to keep it going for another year. But a prequel series is in the works at Netflix titled Black Summer which takes place during the early days of the zombie outbreak. It is possible that The Asylum could try to make a deal with the streaming service to continue Z Nation on that venue, especially if the fifth season concludes on a cliffhanger. I have seen that Z Nation fans were already lobbying for a sixth season, so they should probably direct their efforts towards Netflix to convince that streamer to pick the show up. The fifth season finale, which is the series finale for now, airs on Friday December 28th.
Z Nation follows a group of survivors crossing the country after the zombie-pocalypse has caused the collapse of civilization. One of their members survived a zombie bite because of a serum he was given and he could be the key to survival for the human race. It stars Kellita Smith, DJ Qualls, Michael Welch, Keith Allan, Anastasia Baranova, and Russell Hodgkinson and was created by Karl Schaefer and Craig Engler.
There could be more announcements on the way as the Fall shows wind down for the Winter. Be sure to stay tuned to this site and the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news as well as the latest ratings results.
