Once-Saved Soap Opera Gets Canceled Again: Amazon Cancels ‘Neighbours’

Long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours has been canceled once again. Deadline reports that Amazon has axed the series after Freevee rescued the show back in 2022 after UK network Channel 5 canceled it due to declining ratings. News of the second cancellation comes just months after it was reported that Amazon Freevee would be getting axed, with Neighbours and remaining titles being shifted to Prime Video.

“Neighbours has brought so much joy over the last 40 years to its fanbase globally and in the UK,” an Amazon spokesperson said. “Forty years is an incredible milestone and we are proud that Amazon MGM Studios was able to have a small part of bringing further episodes to Freevee and Prime Video customers over the last two years, spanning over 400 episodes.”

“We are sad to announce that Neighbours will be resting from December 2025,” the Neighbours X account shared. “New episodes from the 40^th anniversary will continue to air on Prime Video and ten four times a week until the end of the year, with all the big soapie twists and turns that our viewers love.”

“Audiences all around the world have loved and embraced Neighbours for four decades, and we are very proud of the huge success over the last two years, including often appearing as one of the top ten titles in the UK and the show’s first-ever Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Daytime Series in 2024,” Jason Herbison, Neighbours executive producer at Fremantle Australia, said in a statement. “As this chapter closes, we appreciate and thank Amazon MGM Studios for all that they have done for Neighbours – bringing this iconic and much-loved series to new audiences globally. We value how much the fans love Neighbours and we believe there are more stories of the residents of Ramsay Street to tell in the future.”

Neighbours premiered on Seven Network in March 1985 and has had numerous homes since its launch, including Network 10 and Eleven/10 Peach, as well as Amazon. The soap opera centers on the personal and professional lives of people in Erinsorough, a fictional suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Current cast members include Stefan Denis, Peter O’Brien, Annie Jones, Ian Smith, Anne Scott-Pendlebury, Lucinda Cowden, Alan Fletcher, Jackie Woodburne, Ryan Maloney, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Matt Wilson, and Tim Kano, among others. Since the show’s original finale brought back some former castmates, such as Margot Robbie, Kylie Minogue, and Guy Pearce, it’s likely the one in December will do the same, and even bigger.