Netflix has canceled season 2 of Archive 81 just two months after the release of season 1.
Archive 81 is a supernatural sc-fi horror, based on a horror podcast of the same name by Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger. The show starred Mamoudou Athie (Underwater, Jurassic World: Dominion) and Dina Shihani (Jack Ryan, Daredevil). Rebecca Sonnenshine, known for shows like The Boys and The Vampire Diaries, served as the showrunner for the series. Rebecca Thomas, known for When the Streetlights Go On and Limetown directed 4 episodes. Meanwhile, Haifaa Al-Mansour (Tales of the Walking Dead), Justin Benson (Moon Knight) and Aaron Moorhead (Synchronic) directed the 6 other episodes.
Archive 81 Season 2 Canceled By Netflix
Image: Netflix
Athie takes the role of Dan Turner, who does film restoration. He works to restore a mysterious set of burned tapes and convert them into digital form. As he restores the old tapes, he finds an intriguing story. Dan finds the name Melody and determines she created these mysterious set of tapes. The situation leads Dan to presume that Melody died 25 years before. To his surprise, the tapes also revealed that Melody had some connection with Dan’s father. Dan’s father, who died in a housefire while Dan was still a child, happens to be Melody’s psychiatrist. I won’t go into details on what the story is since viewers still consider it as a new show, some of you might still want to watch the series. The show covers the involvement of paranormal, supernatural and extraterrestrial… even time travel and parallel dimensions.
But on a sad note, the show ended on a cliffhanger. Unfortunately, seeing a proper conclusion for the series won’t be on the table.
Deadline reports that Netflix will not move forward for a second season.
It’s interesting that Archive 81 has an 85% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It had generally positive reviews. But regardless of all the praise, it still got canceled. It only means that the show didn’t generate new subscribers for the streaming service. Even though it broke into the Nielsen top 10 for a brief period, it’s not an assurance that the show will be retained for another season.
Archive 81 Season 2 Canceled By Netflix
Image: Netflix
Mamoudou Athie will be in the upcoming Jurassic Park: Dominion and he is currently filming The Burial. Dina Shihani, who portrayed Melody in the series, will return in Netflix’s Painkiller with Matthew Broderick and Uzo Abdula which is set to be released within the year. Archive 81 director of half the episodes, Rebecca Thomas will be back directing films like The Little Mermaid and Intelligent Life.
Nothing is safe under the watchful eye of Netflix. Archive 81 is available on streaming only on Netflix.
