Why Netflix Canceled Farzar After One Season

In the history of TV, there have been a number of great sci-fi series that ended after just one season. "Farzar," however, can't really claim to be one of them — though it might have been able to last a bit longer if it had premiered at a different time than it did.

Back in 2021, it was announced that Netflix had inked an overall deal with "Paradise PD" creators Roger Black and Waco O'Guin. The deal would see the pair create multiple new animated series exclusively for the streamer, ensuring fans of the duo's crude and absurdist humor would be well satiated for years to come. The first major project to be unveiled as part of this agreement was "Farzar," a show about a dullard of a dauphin, Prince Fichael (Dana Snyder), who assembles a ragtag crew of pals to protect the planet Farzar and its Dome City against alien threats. The unfortunately named "S.H.A.T. Squad," comprised of a cyborg named Scootie (Jerry Minor), conjoined twins Mal and Val Skullcruncher (Kari Wahlgren), and scientist Barry Barris (David Kaye), quickly discover that Fichael's evil father, the czar Renzo (voiced by the late, great Lance Reddick), might be a bigger threat to Dome City than extraterrestrial forces.

"​​Farzar" premiered on July 15, 2022, and the reviews ... were not great. The animated sci-fi fantasy sitcom failed to do any better critically than Black and O'Guin's "Paradise PD," but that Netflix series — which also starred Snyder — managed to run for four seasons. "Farzar," however, was cancelled after just one. It certainly wasn't just the reviews that prompted Netflix to cut this wacky sci-fi series short; the audience didn't show up because the series simply happened to debut at arguably the worst possible time.

You might have noticed that streaming services keep cancelling shows early, and there are many reasons why series are more disposable these days. Retaining subscribers and combating so-called "churn" is the name of the game, which means streaming plays by different rules than network TV, leading to a slew of seemingly promising series being cancelled before their time. But like traditional TV, streaming isn't immune from the effects of strikes, which reportedly played a big role in the cancellation of "Farzar."

On November 15, 2023, Deadline reported that Netflix had axed the series alongside five other shows, including "Shadow and Bone" and fellow animated comedies "Agent Elvis" and "Captain Fall." According to the outlet, the Screen Actors Guild and Writers Guild strikes of that year were major factors in the decision. Both strikes had resulted in seven months where production had simply ground to a halt industry-wide, which resulted in major disruption to streamer's schedule, creating what Deadline termed a "pipeline logjam" for late 2024 and 2025. The WGA strike came to a conclusion in September of 2023, before the historic SAG-AFTRA strike also came to an end in November. That same month, Netflix pulled the plug.

Had "Farzar" and the other Netflix series debuted earlier and been given time to establish themselves, they might well have made it through the strikes unharmed. But committing to shows without a strong following at a time when the strikes had thrown production into chaos just simply wasn't a risk Netflix was willing to take, especially since, according to Deadline, the streamer also considered the standard performance vs. cost factor as part of the decision.

Waco O'Guin confirmed the cancellation of "Farzar" via a post on X, where he spoke about the project being "so much fun" and revealed that there were actually 10 scripts written for Season 2. "Maybe we'll make them into a coloring book one day," he added.

Farzar has been canceled. It was so much fun to make and I feel lucky that we got to do a season with such an amazing cast (miss you Lance), crew & team of writers.

Here are the 10 scripts we wrote for season 2. Maybe we'll make them into a coloring book one day? pic.twitter.com/de2YfezR88

— Waco O'Guin (@WacoOGuin) November 16, 2023

"Farzar" was clearly heading into a second season prior to the strikes, which reinforces just how damaging the WGA and SAG-AFTRA walkouts were for the industry (thankfully, they led to more protections for writers and performers, particularly in the sphere of AI). Otherwise, there haven't been many public comments from those involved with the series. We do know, however, that had the series been renewed, it would have faced a huge challenge in replacing Lance Reddick as the voice of Renzo since the actor passed away in March of 2023. There is no official word as to whether that factored into Netflix's decision to axe the series, but if the streamer was already dealing with that "pipeline logjam," the prospect of having to recast a major role that had previously been played by a fan-favorite actor surely couldn't have helped things.

A 33% score on Rotten Tomatoes was just another element working against "Farzar." Still, some of the best TV shows you'll ever see similarly only lasted for a single season, and with 2023 being such a tumultuous year, you can't hold the fact that "Farzar" was short-lived against it.