Sandra Oh’s ‘The Chair’ Reportedly Canceled at Netflix

Sandra Oh’s academic satire The Chair is officially done at Netflix. The series, which released its first season on the streamer in August 2021, was not renewed for a second season, co-creator Amanda Peet revealed during the Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour earlier this month. 

Peet, who co-created the Pittsburgh-shot series starring Oh as Professor Ji-yoon Kim with Annie Julia Wyman, confirmed that the streamer had quietly canceled the series. “We weren’t picked up,” Peet said, as per the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. “Sandra and I wish we had been.” While Peet had previously suggested there were more storylines ahead for The Chair, Netflix never renewed the show for a second season and never announced an official cancellation. 

Oh previously doubted a second season of The Chair was in the cards in early 2022, telling Variety in February 2022, “No one’s called me, so I’m guessing that’s not happening. I would have loved it, because I just thought that there was so much material there to potentially explore.” She continued, “Because the setting and the characters were established… I’m just happy that it happened, it was a great experience. But I am sad that it’s over.”

Oh’s performance as Kim earned the actress a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. The series, which was shot at the height of COVID, was a fast and furious production, Oh and co-star Holland Taylor told The Hollywood Reporter in November 2021.

“How long were we together – two months? Three months? We shot The Chair while we were sprinting,” Oh recalled in the interview. “I felt like every scene began with an announcement,” added Taylor. ” ‘OK, we’ve got to get through this by 11.’ I was there thinking, ‘It’s 10:43!’”

“It was an amazing and challenging experience to shoot,” Oh continued. “I think The Chair worked because everyone who was involved had a tremendous amount of experience in television. Everyone who came had, like, 20-plus years. That’s the only way we could have made it because everyone immediately could sense what was needed. For me, it was like instead of running a mile, suddenly you have to do the 100-meter sprint.”