Origin received little attention when it premiered and YouTube cancelled it after one season, but fan efforts could lead to a revival.
[Updated 9/23/21]
What Is It?
This series takes place on a colony ship headed from Earth to a new planet which offers people a chance to leave behind their past troubles and find new life. A group of passengers awake from suspended animation to discover that they have not reached their destination and that the rest of the crew and passengers have abandoned ship. Over the next ten episodes, these people try to find a way to survive and get the ship back on course, while flashbacks reveal the past lives that they fled from on Earth.
Aired: YouTube, 2018, 1 Season Totaling 10 Episodes
Starring: Natalia Tena, Tom Felton, Sen Mitsuji, Nora Arnezeder, Fraser James
Created By: Mika Watkins
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Why Was It Cancelled?
This sci fi series arrived on the YouTube Premium service without much fanfare in November 2018. It did receive a bit of promotion, and the streamer made the first two episodes available for free, but not enough people discovered this one when it was first released. YouTube was making a foray into scripted programming at that time, trying to compete with the big streamers, but it got cold feet pretty quickly and has since completely exited from that areNa (with its one hit Cobra Kai jumping over to Netflix). Origin was a big-budget production, much like what the Big Three streamers (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu) have been putting out and basically found itself in a bad situation as YouTube shifted its strategy for originals. Ultimately, the streamer decided to pass on a second season (ending the series on a huge cliffhanger) and they quietly cancelled it in March of 2019.
How Did Fans Respond?
There was not too much reaction to the cancellation because not enough people even knew that it was streaming, and fewer were aware that it was cancelled. Had Origin run on one of the Big Three streaming services, I believe it would have had a better chance of surviving to a second season because they tend to commit to their shows for at least a few seasons (and Netflix was not in its “Off With Their Heads!” mode at that point). But the fact that the show landed on YouTube at a time that the streamer was not fully committed to scripted programming ultimately led to it getting cut short after one season. Had YouTube done more to promote the series, it almost certainly would have attracted a larger following and they likely would have made a push to lobby another venue to pick the show up. It’s studio and producers did shop it around after the cancellation, but apparently that was unsuccessful because there has been no word on the show moving to a new location. If the fans had rallied to support the show at that time, that might have helped its chances.
Can It Be Revived?
This show delivers Lost meets Lost in Space meets Alien with a little bit of Blade Runner and Dark Matter thrown in for good measure. And while it borrows liberally from other sources, it does so in such a way as to give a unique spin on the material. It is also had very high production values and should have received more attention from the sci fi community, which it might have if YouTube had promoted it better. It has since become one of the most-searched shows on this site as people have slowly discovered it and learned that it is quite a good sci fi entry.
Origin could still have a shot at a second season, though it will require fans to come together and make a Call to Action on its behalf. Plenty of people have discovered this show and the first two episodes are still available for free on YouTube. But any fanbase out there is pretty loose-knit at this point. If they can come together and make some noise, perhaps that could re-energize efforts to find the show a new home (and we here at Cancelled Sci Fi will certainly support any campaign efforts). The contracts for the actors have certainly expired at this point and the sets have likely been destroyed, so there are some hurdles to getting this one going again. But we have seen shows like Manifest, Lucifer, and The Expanse saved, so it is not impossible that Origin could join that list. But fans will need to make some noise, and that should happen pretty soon. The more time that passes, the less likely it is that this show could be revived for a second season.
Did you watch Origin and would you support fan efforts to bring it back? Chime in below in the comments.
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