Netflix Is Losing a True-Crime Staple This Week

Netflix's true-crime library is about to get a little smaller with the upcoming departure of one staple title. When Netflix unveiled its incoming December 2021 titles at the end of November, it also released its outgoing titles, revealing that Forensic Files Collections 1-9 will be leaving the platform on Friday, Dec. 31. All 376 episodes of the hit true-crime series currently available on Netflix are set to leave, unfortunately.

Originally known as Medical Detectives and premiering on TLC in 1996, Forensic Files looks at how detectives and lab technicians use forensic science to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The series was produced by creator Paul Dowling and his Medstar Television production company and wrapped in 2011 after 406 episodes and 14 seasons. Forensic Files, however, continued to live on with re-runs on HLN and with episodes available for streaming on Netflix, where it became a cornerstone of the streamer's true-crime content.

Forensic Files proved to be such a popular true crime title that in 2019 it was announced that Forensic Files would be revived with new episodes to air on HLN. Forensic Files II premiered in February 2020, not only marking HLN's top original series to date but also becoming the network's best time period performance in 20 years. Not long after its premiere, the show was renewed for two additional 16-episode seasons.

While Forensic Files is departing Netflix, it won't entirely disappear from TV screens. HLN still airs reruns of episodes, and Hulu is currently home to Seasons 7-14. Forensic Files II, meanwhile, is available for streaming on HBO Max. A reason for the show's departure from Netflix is unclear, though it likely came down to the expiration of a licensing deal.

Although Forensic Files has been a staple of Netflix's true-crime catalog for years now, and its departure will surely upset a few fans, the streamer has a fully stocked true-crime library. In recent months and years, the streamer has made a push into the true crime genre with its own original true-crime series, including Abducted in Plain Sight, Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, and Don't F**k with Cats, with one of its most recent titles, Catching Killers, taking social media by storm and even cracking into Netflix's Top 10 rankings. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest streaming and true crime updates!