Drew Barrymore celebrated her Santa Clarita Diet character, Sheila Hammond, after news surfaced Netflix canceled the zombie comedy series.
The streaming service announced Friday that the show would not be renewed for a third season, nearly a month after the release of Season 3.
Videos by PopCulture.com
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Barrymore opened up about laying the suburban mom, realty and zombie on the show.
“Of all of the characters I’ve ever been, Sheila Hammond is one of my favorites,” Barrymore, who also serves as an executive producer, said. “She and Joel were an amazing couple, who had shared goals. And i am lucky to have worked alongside Tim Olyphant. It was an honor to get to do something so delightful. Sheila lives forever in me. And I am grateful to Victor Fresco, who created a world so unique.”
Netflix released their own lengthy statement commending the cast, crew and writers of the show for creating a unique television experience for the streaming platform.
“The world had never known a ‘zom-com’ until Santa Clarita Diet, and we’re indebted to creator Victor Fresco for bringing this idea to Netflix,” the statement read. “To their endless credit, the incredible Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant were totally game, with an uncanny knack for comedy that brought Sheila and Joel Hammond to vibrant life, even though one of them was undead. We’re grateful to Victor, Drew, and Timothy, along with fellow executive producers Tracy Katsky, Aaron Kaplan, Chris Miller and Ember Truesdell and the terrific cast, including Liv Hewson and Skyler Gisondo, and crew for three hilarious seasons for Netflix members to discover for years to come.”
Fresco previously told the outlet that while the streaming platform never offered them data about audience reception, he believed the series had a good following.
“We hear anecdotally from people and I think it’s been well-received. I know that the people who are important to me in my friends and family and the actors on the show really had a good time doing it and really are happy with it, so that’s important to me. I feel good about it and the stuff that I’ve heard back is good too and the stuff I’ve read has been very positive about it, which I enjoy also. It’s touched people in a way I didn’t anticipate when I first created it,” he said.
After Season 3 premiered, Fresco told the outlet he was not sure whether the show would see another installment. At the time he did admit that he did not craft the Season 3 finale as a possible series-ending episode.
“We’re aware that the show gets more expensive every year; we’re aware of what seems like templates of [Netflix’s] studio stuff now. It looks like mostly three-season stuff,” he said, seemingly confirming a recent report that Netflix seems to have a two- or three-season business model for many of its original programming. “We know they like the show. I like to say the humans there seem to love the show; I don’t know how the algorithm feels about us, and the algorithm makes a lot of decisions, ultimately. So I just don’t know.”
Santa Clarita Diet is currently available to stream on Netflix.
