Award-Winning Netflix Series Ending After Just 2 Seasons

Netflix renewed Mo for a second season, but it will be the show’s last. Mo stars comedian Mo Amer as Mohammed “Mo” Najjar, a Palestinian refugee living in Houston seeking asylum in the U.S. The series has earned near-unanimous critical acclaim, and won the Breakthrough Series (Under 40 Minutes) award at the 2022 Gotham Awards.

Mo was created by Amer with Ramy Youssef (Hulu’s Ramy) and is loosely inspired by Amer’s personal experiences. Amer’s character speaks three languages and is one step away from obtaining asylum in the U.S. His family fled to Houston, where Amer struggles to embrace American culture while becoming a citizen. Farah Bsieso stars as Mo’s mother Yusra, while Omar Elba plays his brother, Sameer. Teresa Ruiz, Tobe Nwige, Michael Y. Kim, Lee Eddy, and Cherien Dabis also star.

“I’m thankful to continue to tell a universal story of struggle that relates to so many refugees and millions of under-represented humans trying to be seen around the globe and to be able to bring the people who loved and rooted for Mo Najjar along for the ride as we close this chapter of his story,” Amer said in a statement to Deadline. Ruiz, Bseiso, and Elba will return for Season 2.

Mo debuted with a 100% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The show never made it into Netflix’s weekly Top 10, but it earned a handful of awards. Aside from its Gotham Award win, the series was honored at the 2023 AFI Awards and Amer earned Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series.

A24 is the studio behind Mo. The first season was executive produced by Amer, Youssef, Ravi Nandan, Hallie Sekoff, Solvan “Slick” Naim, Harris Danow, and Luvh Rakhe. All eight Season 1 episodes were released on Aug. 24, 2022.

Netflix has already canceled a handful of shows in the new year. On the second day of 2023, 1899 creators Jantjee Friese and Baran bo Odar announced that their series was canceled after one season, even though it spent multiple weeks in Netflix’s weekly Top 10 chart. A few days later, Inside Job writer Chase Mitchell tweeted that the animated adult comedy was canceled. Mitchell deleted his tweets, but writer Shion Takeuchi later confirmed it was true in a Jan. 8 statement.