From the producers of Stranger Things, The Boroughs emerged on Netflix in May – and has already been cancelled. In TV terms, Stranger Things was Netflix’s killer app – a series that hooked in millions of viewers, generated its own dedicated fandom, and helped the streaming giant grow a huge subscriber base. Most recently, Stranger ... The Boroughs | Netflix is said to have cancelled the Duffer brothers’ series after one season
From the producers of Stranger Things, The Boroughs emerged on Netflix in May – and has already been cancelled.
In TV terms, Stranger Things was Netflix’s killer app – a series that hooked in millions of viewers, generated its own dedicated fandom, and helped the streaming giant grow a huge subscriber base.
Most recently, Stranger Things creators the Duffer brothers executive produced The Boroughs – another genre TV show that mixes sci-fi, horror, suspense and cute character moments. Emerging on Netflix on the 21st May, the eight-part series featured a starry cast and has garnered some cautiously positive reviews.
Less than a month later, however, comes word that Netflix has cancelled the series.
The streaming giant hasn’t made a formal announcement yet, but according to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has decided not to continue the story into a second season – potentially due to the series’ expense.
Set at a plush yet faintly eerie retirement community in the New Mexico desert, The Boroughs sees its residents encounter a mysterious creature with an appetite for drinking bodily fluids. The cast includes Alfred Molina, Geena Davis and Dee Wallace and Bill Pullman, while the show’s concept leapt from the imaginations of Jeffery Addiss and Will Matthews.
The Duffer brothers’ involvement was a heavy part of its promotion, though, and the parallels between The Boroughs and Stranger Things was commonly noted by critics.
The series appeared to do decent numbers on its first couple of weeks of release – though not enough, it seems, to prompt Netflix to commission a second series. The Duffers have since left Netflix, having signed a four-year deal with Paramount – they have an untitled film due for release in cinemas in 2028.
Some reports have vaguely suggested that Netflix has drawn a line under The Boroughs because of the Duffers’ departure (“sometimes breakups are hard,” writes THR). Netflix, even by entertainment industry standards, is overwhelmingly driven by metrics. Had the series been another Stranger Things-sized hit, the streamer would surely have found a way to continue it, Duffers or no Duffers.
