Earlier this week, Netflix announced that The Boroughs—a sci-fi series about a retirement community plagued with otherworldly horrors—was no more. It was surprising: the well-reviewed show’s first season just dropped May 21, and it had consistently hovered in the streamer’s top 10. It also boasted a killer cast of veteran actors (Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, Clarke Peters, Bill Pullman, and Denis O’Hare) and was executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things.
We speculated it was because of the high budget costs associated with making a special-effects-heavy show, especially one with so many established stars. In a new interview, Geena Davis told the Hollywood Reporter that all involved were sad to hear that The Boroughs, which was created by Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, would not return.
“The producers, who became our dear, dear friends, were able to tell us before the news came out, and we’re all terribly disappointed,” Davis said; they were “not necessarily” given any explanation for the cancellation.
“Honestly, I don’t know what happened,” she continued. “I think it’s probably rare for a show to not get picked up and to have it announced that it’s not being picked up while it’s still in the top 10. We didn’t expect that. But the creators told us from the beginning that the series was not going to have a cliffhanger ending to the first season, that someone had advised them, ‘Make it its own thing. And if you come back to do another year, make that its own thing.’ And we really did. There’s a tiny hint at the end that maybe everything isn’t fixed, but it is a complete story. And if we had made it as a limited series, then it would’ve been a big hit, and everybody would be happy. We so fell in love with each other that we just wanted to keep working together.”
In a separate THR article digging into the reasons behind The Boroughs‘ end, the outlet confirmed what we’d suspected, writing that “two sources [told] THR that a problem with The Boroughs was its expensive production budget.”
The outlet had conflicting sources on another possible cause: “The Duffer Brothers ditching Netflix for a four-year deal at Paramount seems to have rubbed high-ranking Netflix executives the wrong way, the first source told THR.”
However, “A source close to Netflix denied the accuracy of that characterization, and says this was simply a business decision.”
As for the seemingly abrupt timing of the announcement, “June 15 was […] the deadline for Netflix to extend the options on the cast of The Boroughs. It declined to do so, effectively killing the series.”
What’s more: “There won’t be a rebirth, multiple sources tell THR. Netflix is both the studio and the platform here, with 100 percent ownership of the series.”
Fortunately, as Davis said, the one season of The Boroughs we did get is self-contained enough to be satisfying. You can stream the whole thing now on Netflix.
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