Fans were surprised to learn Netflix canceled Santa Clarita Diet Season 4. The show has yet to receive a proper ending, and its previous season even ended with a major cliffhanger. So fans quickly started a petition to save the show, but would the network still do it when they would continue to benefit from the show?
The show has established a solid fan base for being the first zom-com of its kind. Fans love Sheila Hammond (Drew Barrymore), Joel (Timothy Olyphant), and the rest of the cast's classic antics and banter. And with the cliffhanging Season 3 ending, where Sheila bit Joel to save his life but would eventually make him a zombie, Santa Clarita Diet Season 4 needs to answer a lot of questions.
So, Madeline Rush started a petition on Change.org to gather 15,000 signatures to continue Santa Clarita Diet Season 4. As of this writing, 10,575 people already signed, and it is growing every minute.
"Santa Clarita Diet is one of the funniest, most gruesome shows on Netflix," Rush noted on the petition. "There is so much story left to tell (the writers even said so)! Let's get this awesome show one more season!"
On Twitter, fans started to trend the #SaveSantaClaritaDiet hashtag, per Distractify. Some fans even voiced out their devastation over Netflix's decision to cancel Santa Clarita Diet Season 4. "Are you going to cancel one of the few good and well done original Netflix shows??" a fan questioned.
So why Netflix does canceled Santa Clarita Diet Season 4? According to Screen Rant, it might be the result of the streaming network's move to reduce its existing shows as it is adding more and more titles to its original content. The series also gets more expensive to produce every new season.
Deadline added Santa Clarita Diet became too expensive for Netflix to make due to its "cost-plus model" of funding its original content. The platform only pays a portion of the productions costs added with a premium of 30 percent and bonus payments that increase every season.
So from Santa Clarita Diet Season 4 onward, the costs may go as high as millions of dollars in bonuses. If the show runs longer, it will be more expensive for Netflix to make.
However, Netflix will surely benefit from the show, even though there will be no Santa Clarita Diet Season 4. Compare to traditional television series; its original content remains on its growing library that viewers can watch anytime.
"We're grateful to [the creators, cast] and crew for three hilarious seasons for Netflix members to discover for years to come," the streaming network said in an announcement. So, it will continue to benefit from the show, without the need to spend more money to produce Santa Clarita Diet Season 4.
