The OA was cut short by Netflix after two seasons in 2019, but now may be the time for fans to resume efforts to save the show.
What Is It?
The OA is a sci fi mystery that follows a young woman who returns after having disappeared seven years prior and who recruits five strangers to assist her with a secret mission. She had been blind but she has since regained her sight, though she won’t reveal how. She needs the help of the others to save additional people who have gone missing. It was created by and stars Brit Marling who had previously written and starred in the award-winning sci fi film Another Earth.
Aired: Netflix, 2016-19, 2 Seasons Totaling 16 Episodes
Starring: Brit Marling, Emory Cohen, Scott Wilson, Phyllis Smith, Alice Krige
Created By: Brit Marling, Zal Batmanglij
Why Was It Cancelled?
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This show was cancelled after its second season at a time that Netflix was typically allowing its originals to go for three to four seasons and wrap up their storylines. The OA premiered on the streaming service with little fanfare, but slowly built up a following through good word-of-mouth, especially when it returned for its second season. The show had a five-season arc planned out, but Netflix execs decided to cancel it after its second year, leaving a significant part of its story untold. No official viewing numbers for the show have been revealed and the streamer never gave a specific reason for the cancellation. Series regular Jason Isaacs claimed that it was not viewership that killed the show:
Netflix needs to build subscribers and they make their decisions on a bunch of other things, which are not to do with the number of people watching, more to do with how many people they can get to sign up. I know the Netflix execs who made the decision to cancel it felt equally sad because they had five seasons mapped out and the show has this rabid committed fanbase. Those people felt very upset. I wouldn’t want to be sitting in the Netflix executive chairs!
The OA was well-received by critics and fans and currently holds an overall 84% Fresh Ratings and a 84% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. There were theories the cancellation was fake and that it was part of a publicity stunt worked in with the conspiracy themes of the show. But those proved not to be the case.
How Did Fans Respond?
Upon the cancellation announcement, fans immediately took up a call to action to save the show. Netflix had cancelled the sci fi series Sense8 two years prior after two seasons, and a raucous fan campaign led to a two-hour finale movie for the show. Fans of The OA hoped for at least the same and got the show trending on social media while also raising money to put up a billboard in Times Square lobbying for the show to continue. They also staged a flashmob and even a hunger strike to show their support for the cancelled series. Creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij had conversations with Netflix about a final movie, but since the original plan was for the show run over five seasons, the creators did not believe that a two-hour wrap would do justice to the story. Marling had the following to say to fans in an Instagram post:
Your words and images move us deeply. Not because the show must continue, but because for some people its unexpected cancellation begs larger questions about the role of storytelling and its fate inside late capitalism’s push toward consolidation and economies of scale.
Fans continued to lobby for the show, staging one of the more active campaigns for a cancelled series, but Netflix could not be swayed to bring it back for a third season. And since the streamer owned the series, there was little hope that it could switch to a different venue.
Can It Be Revived?
If there is a chance for the story of The OA to continue, now is the time for fans to make another push. Netflix usually retains the rights to its originals for two years after the last new airing. Season 2 premiered in March 2019, so the two-year timeframe should have passed and the rights have possibly reverted back to the production company or the creators. Fans should reach out to Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij to verify if the show is now available to move to a new venue, and if so resume efforts to get it revived. There is a built-in following for this show and if it were to switch to another streamer that could lead to a surge in subscriptions. Or perhaps it could make the jump to one of the linear channels (please not cancellation-happy Syfy) looking to bolster their scripted programming. The fans made quite an effort to save this show the first time around, and it has only been a little over two years since it last aired new episodes (the hiatus between Seasons 1 and 2 was over two years as well). This is a much-loved property with a story that many would like to see finished, and now may be the perfect time to ramp up efforts to save it once again.
Did you watch The OA and would you support fan efforts to bring it back? Chime in below in the comments.
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