GLOW Season 4's cancellation surprised the many. Netflix decided not to continue the show's final season despite the renewal due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. As the ladies of wrestling have yet to officially conclude their storylines, is there still a chance for them to continue?
The show's sudden cancellation made fans and even the cast upset by the decision. Marc Maron, who played as Sam Sylvia, said, via Asap Land, the whole GLOW Season 4 "had already been prepared."
They already knew how the story would go from start to finish. So, the stand-up comedian suggested a movie version of the show's final season might be suitable to do as its production would take less time than film a whole new season.
There is also a big chance that a different network or streaming platform will pick up the show. Netflix also canceled One Day a Time last year, but the cable network, Pop, continued the series this year.
However, Deadline reported that a source revealed there's a clause that covered some Netflix shows that it couldn't be picked up by other streaming platforms for about two to three years. In some cases, it could take as long as five to seven years.
Although this news was neither confirmed nor denied, there were assumptions Netflix feared streaming competition and not the networks' so-called "traditional." Does this cover GLOW Season 4?
So, why exactly Netflix canceled the show? According to Film Daily, the new season was already three weeks into filming before it was suspended.
They had completed one episode and were working on another when Netflix suddenly announced the cancellation. Deadline noted several reasons why the streaming giant canceled the show, but the most distinctive was because of its "intense physicality."
As it featured the story about female wrestlers in the 1980s, there was a lot of close physical contact, which defied the COVID-19 protocol. As wrestling had a major part in the series, there might be no way to work around these scenes that they wouldn't be close to each other, putting the cast's health in danger.
Shows with smaller cast and crew were also deemed to be safer to film during the pandemic. GLOW Season 4 had about over 20 recurring characters who needed to be in the same scenes.
For Netflix to continue the show, it had to up its budget to follow the protocol. If it would continue working on GLOW Season 4, it might experience a delay, making it unready until 2022 - three years after Season 3. If this happened, it might lose more money and viewers -- consequences said to be not worth the financial risk.
