Netflix Was Reportedly Close to Canceling ‘GLOW’ After Season 1

Netflix almost canceled GLOW after the show’s first season, but the wrestling comedy’s overwhelmingly positive reaction from critics and audiences helped convince the streaming service otherwise.

According to a new Wall Street Journal report on how Netflix decides what shows to renew and what to cancel, GLOW‘s first season earned disappointing ratings.

“There were serious conversations from the tech side pressuring the Hollywood side not to renew it for a second season,” a source told the WSJ.

However, the creative executives saw the positive reviews the show received and wanted to stay on good terms with executive producer Jenji Kohan, who is also the creator of Orange Is The New Black. So, they pressured the heads at Netflix to renew the series.

The creative group won out, and the show was picked up for a second season. In August, the show received a third season renewal.

According to the WSJ, Kohan believed Netflix’s marketing campaign, which focused on the men vs. women dynamic, was to blame for the low ratings. Netflix never makes its ratings data public.

“We are tremendously proud of GLOW, and were happy to bring it back for its award-winning second season and again for its upcoming third,” Netflix said in a statement to TVLine.

GLOW was created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and is loosely based on the true story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling league in the 1980s. It features an ensemble cast headlined by Alison Brie, Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin. The first season explained how the GLOW show came together, while season two focused on the show’s struggles to stay on the air. At the end of season two, the ladies left Los Angeles to perform in Las Vegas.

“Exploring Vegas, you know, fully is our plan,” Flahive told TVLine about the upcoming season. Unfortunately, many of the locations they wanted to use no longer exist.

“We are charting a new path,” Mensch said in a Hollywood Reporter interview about season 3. “The more seasons we go on, the further we go from the original and that’s based on the fact that we created very different characters and now we follow our characters.”

GLOW earned a Golden Globe nomination for Brie’s performance in the first season. The show was also nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Gilpin and Outstanding Directing for Jesse Peretz at the Emmys. It won Emmys for stunt coordination and production design.

Netflix has not announced when GLOW season 3 will be released yet.

Photo credit: Netflix