Final Space Has Been Cancelled . . . From Existence

As sci fi fans, we are used to shows getting cancelled. It has seemed like a regular occurrence throughout the years, even though it is not necessarily true that genre entries get cancelled more often than other shows. But now there appears to be a next level of cancellation due to what are apparently new tax laws. Imagine if you will that Firefly was not only cancelled after its one season by FOX, but that it was basically erased from existence. No DVD/Blu-ray, no syndicated repeats, no streaming, no VOD purchases. No way to watch it at all.  That is what is happening to the animated sci fi series Final Space and it could happen to more shows.

The Adult Swim series actually ended in 2021, though it never received an official cancellation announcement. Series creator Olan Rogers confirmed that the show’s third season was its last with a YouTube post and he indicated that the merger of Warner Bros. and Discovery led to its demise. But the story did not end there as the mega-corp now has a fate worse than cancellation in store for Final Space.

The cancellation of the Batgirl movie has made plenty of headlines since Warner Bros. Discovery has been culling its content following the merger, but the implications of that may not have sunk in with the general public and those carry on to shows like Final Space. Instead of releasing the movie, corporate accountants figured out that the company would come out better financially by taking a write-off rather than sinking more money into marketing and distributing it. Basically, they reduce their profits by the amount of the write-off (the $90 million they have spent on it already) and end up paying less in taxes at the end of the year. This is how corporations get away with paying no taxes while you and I have to shell out money to the IRS every paycheck. (And don’t try this at home unless you can afford the high-priced tax consultants and lawyers they have on the payroll.)

But not only is that movie a write-off, it’s gone! You will never see it. It has been erased from existence. The terms of writing it off to save on the company’s bottom line is that it can never be released anywhere ever in any form. And that is where we get back to the fate of Final Space which is pretty final. Since Warner Bros. Discovery is throwing that into the write-off bucket, it will be gone from existence once it finishes its current streaming deals on VRV and Netflix.

The show has already been yanked from HBO Max, and only the first episode of the second season is showing to be available for purchase VOD on Amazon. Final Space is streaming on Netflix internationally and the first two seasons are available on VRV in the States, but once those deals come to an end (I believe in 2023), then it will be gone from streaming. Only the first two seasons were released on DVD, and those are no longer available. The third season never received a home video release, and now it never will.

I started watching Final Space when it first premiered in 2018, but didn’t keep up with it because there are just so many shows to watch these days. After that, I noticed that the show developed a following and was receiving some pretty good buzz going into its second and third seasons. I had it on my list as one to go back and revisit, but now I will not be able to do that unless I join up with VRV to at least watch through the second season.  The third season, though, is gone forever.

The implications of this are chilling. How many other shows will be erased from existence to make the bottom of some mega-corp look a little bit better? This is art that is being extinguished to save a few bucks and get better bonuses for upper management. Olan Rogers said it best himself: “Five years of my life. Three seasons of TV. Blood, sweat, and tears… became a tax write-off for the network who owns Final Space“.

Fans had been rallying for a fourth season of the show by getting #RenewFinalSpace trending and they will continue to lobby for it to remain available in some form. But whether they can convince Warner Bros. Discovery to reverse the decision of the write-off is unclear. Rogers is attempting to carry on the tradition of Final Space with a new animated project Godspeed that will be supported by crowd-funding. I will definitely be contributing to that, and we at CancelledSciFi.com will support fan efforts to keep Final Space from disappearing from existence. We should all rally together around this cause because there is no telling what will be the next show to fall in order to make the profits of some monolithic company look a little bit better.

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