Fans had been greatly disappointed that Into the Badlands season 4 is not going to happen on AMC. In February, the network confirmed that it had canceled the series at the height of the third season's post-production.
Showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, however, apparently had plans to continue Into the Badlands as a spinoff. So, they wrote the ending of the Into the Badlands season 3 to set up a new story.
While Into the Badlands season 4 was officially off the table, the showrunners and AMC were discussing spinoff plans. The showrunners revealed as much about this project in an interview with Indie Wire.
"The spinoff would have jumped probably 20 years into the future, and it would have been following The Widow and Gaius's daughter and Henry as young people," Gough said. "And Bajie would have still been around acting as sort of the mentor character. It was more like a kung-fu Western, is how we described it."
The spinoff would have also been a mix of guns and Martial Arts, as was introduced in the third season finale. The showrunners said that this story was supposed to happen in a small town similar to HBO's Deadwood.
Only, AMC also decided to pass on this proposition. So, like the possibility of Into the Badlands season 4, the spinoff failed to materialize as well.
According to ScreenRant, there were indications early on that AMC would cancel Into the Badlands. The network took a while to confirm the show's return after its midseason break.
AMC also lost interest with the series by not giving Into the Badlands a good schedule and the same attention in the promotion as much as its other shows, such as The Walking Dead franchise. And while the show got some boost in the ratings when paired with the zombie series, its numbers drastically fell in the succeeding seasons.
To the network's credit, however, AMC still renewed Into the Badlands season 3 despite indications that it wasn't rating well. The third season was also its longest installment, but as with all other shows, the cost of making the series couldn't cover for the lack of viewers that should have brought in the money.
As it stands, Into the Badlands season 4 or its spinoff are not going to another network or platform. Fans have been hoping that Netflix would be interested in saving the show, but there has been no talks or negotiations with the streamer.
