I am in the process of finalizing the 2022-23 season which just wrapped up, and now is also a good time to go back and address some of the stragglers from the prior year that have never received an official cancellation or renewal announcement. Here are six shows from the 2021-22 season that were still in Renewal Possible or On the Bubble status with my updates on where they stand in this bonus edition of Cancellation Watch.
Status Updates:
The Orville (Hulu, Completed 3rd Season, Renewal Possible): There has been no word on a fourth season of The Orville since it wrapped up its third year in Summer 2022. But Seth McFarlane indicated in a tweet that he remains “cautiously optimistic” the show will continue at some point. It did not make it into the Nielsen Streaming Rankings during its third season run nor when it became available on Disney+. But apparently, there is still a chance for a fourth season and fans should continue to make some noise on the social networks to support it.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 (Gizmoplex, Completed 13th Season, Renewal Possible): The 13th season of this show has wrapped up, and now it is up to Joel Hodgson as to whether there will be more. Netflix picked it up after he previously ran a crowd-funding campaign to revive the fan-favorite series and they let it go for two seasons. After that streamer lost interest in the show, Hodgson ran another campaign that fully financed a thirteenth year which is available on Gizmoplex. If he decides to continue with more seasons of MST3K, he could possibly do further crowd-funding or bring in investors because he owns the rights to the property and the platform it is streaming on.
Ms. Marvel (Disney+, Completed 1st Season, Ended): This show had decent viewership numbers, but like She-Hulk–which came out around the same time–may not have met up to expectations. There has been no word on a second season and it appears that Disney is playing the “limited series” card with this one. It is possible that a second season could happen at some point if it can fit into the MCU schedule, but for now it looks to be done.
Young Justice (Max, Completed 4th Season, Ended): According to a report from TVLine there are no current plans for a fifth year of this show. It never received an official cancellation announcement, but it appears to have gotten lost in the shuffle with all the shakeups at Max due to the Warner Bros. merger with Discovery. It has 98 episodes across four seasons, and that counts as a fairly notable run for an animated series. It could still return for a fifth season at some point, and the fans have rallied for this show in the past, but I am counting it as ended for now.
Salvage Marines (PopcorFlix, Completed 1st Season, Ended): This military sci fi drama appeared on PopcornFlix without much promotion, and shortly after that it arrived on Crackle as well. It never developed much of an audience, and there has been no word on a second season. It wrapped up its storylines at the end of its first year, but it has plenty more material to draw from with several more books in the series from Sean-Michael Argo. I am assuming it is ended for now, but it is possible that it could return for a second season at some point.
Shining Girls (Apple TV+, Completed 1st Season, Ended): Apple TV+ billed this supernatural drama as a “limited series”, but Elisabeth Moss did suggest that additional seasons could happen. There has been no word on more episodes over a year after the show wrapped up, though, so the assumption at this point is that this one has ended. A second season could still happen down the road, but nothing appears to be in the works currently.
Cancellation/Renewal Score:
With these updates, the Cancellation/Renewal Score for the 2021-22 season now stands at 53 renewed sci fi and fantasy shows (49% of shows tracked) vs. 51 cancelled and ending (47%). Below are the numbers, and you can see the list of shows at our Cancellation Watch Page.
| Show Count | 106 | ||
| Cancelled | 32 | 30.2% | |
| Ending | 19 | 17.9% | 48.1% |
| Renewed | 53 | 50.0% | |
| On the Bubble | 0 | 0.0% | |
| Renewal Possible | 2 | 1.9% | |
| Mini-Series | 3 |
Be sure to follow the Cancelled Sci Fi Twitter Site for breaking news and updates. And for the latest news and discussions on sci fi and fantasy television, follow r/SciFiTV
Follow our Sci Fi TV Schedule for all the currently airing and upcoming sci fi and fantasy television shows, and you can see the premieres for all the upcoming genre entries at this link.
