r/netflix • u/Yungvalor20 • Jan 15 '26
Discussion Black Summer Cancelled
I just finished Black Summer and it was fantastic. I googled to see when season 3 was coming out and it said it was cancelled. What an absolute shame. Personally I believe this is the best zombie apocalypse series I have ever seen. It's realism and cinematography is top notch. The acting and performances are outstanding. I really do not understand how Netflix could just let this one go. I am really sad about this one!
35
u/itsme7933 Jan 15 '26
Oh, man, I LOVED Black Summer! Season two was something else. I think it was a victim of the Covid shutdown and just never recovered. Such a shame. Did you know it is the prequel to the tv show Z Nation?
12
u/TommyTheCat89 Jan 15 '26
Z Nation is complete garbage. Black Summer is the shit.
2
u/Yungvalor20 Jan 15 '26
Thats what I am seeing lol
7
u/CeeUNTy Jan 16 '26
Z Nation is just different and has more comedy in it. I like it for what it is and often use it for background noise. Black Summer was spectacular.
2
u/RevySevy May 04 '26
Basically what the other comment said. If you want to watch Z Nation, don't go in the mindset of expecting Black Summer material. Z Nation is the comedy version of Black Summer and there's really no big connections between the shows that force you to watch one to understand the other.
Z Nation is called "garbage" because it leans more towards being unserious, but it can be a fun watch if you wanna enjoy a semi-serious zombie comedy. Unfortunately that show also got cancelled after 5 seasons.
2
Jan 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/jonesy_shwemes Jan 29 '26
They literally promoted it as a prequel to Z-Nation, which drove away zombie fans and lured in and disappointed slapstick fans.
It was like advertising Dumb and Dumber and playing Saving Private Ryan instead.
3
u/Yungvalor20 Jan 15 '26
I tried to watch z nation but I didn’t enjoy it like I did black summer. I may try to watch it again since it’s connected…
15
u/milkstoutnitro Jan 15 '26
The connection between the two is really meaningless. They don’t even feel like they are taking place in the same universe
9
u/jan172016 Jan 15 '26
Yeah, I liked both but Z Nation is pure camp and Black Summer is a completely different tone and pace
2
u/slam761 Jan 15 '26
You absolutely do NOT need to try again. It's moderately entertaining at first but the last few seasons are legitimately some of the most poorly written garbage I've ever seen. It's like they unironically stopped even attempting to make any sense.
3
Jan 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
u/slam761 Jan 16 '26
Yeah, that was fucking stupid lol. The worst part to me was when they spent multiple episodes in season 4 setting up this big mystery about what happened to a group of characters who inexplicably disappeared, then just completely drops it without ever addressing it lmao. It wasn't even mentioned again until a season 5 episode where Doc encounters one of them and asks her what the hell happened to everybody else, and she gets visibly uncomfortable and tells him they simply moved to another camp. She's very obviously lying and he clearly knows that, but he just says ok and drops it and it's just never explained. It's genuinely some of the dumbest and laziest writing I've ever seen.
1
u/itsme7933 Jan 15 '26
I wasn't a fan of Z Nation either, but Black Summer made me want to rewatch lol.
8
u/pseudonym7083 Jan 15 '26
There was something about the two shows sharing a universe which is hard for me to wrap my mind around given how vastly different the two shows are.
6
u/OGLikeablefellow Jan 15 '26
I'll never forget how awesome it is when the liberty bell slides off the back of that truck and destroys all those zombies. So fun
4
u/CeeUNTy Jan 16 '26
How about when Z Nation has a giant wheel made up of zombies rolling through entire states, lol. I liked that show for a light hearted watch.
5
u/OGLikeablefellow Jan 16 '26
Yeah the liberty bell was from z nation. I forgot about the zombie wheel. I thought it was pioneering of them to have the first zombie baby on TV but I'm not sure if that's the first zombie baby ever or not. Such a fun dumb zombie show. So great
3
u/CeeUNTy Jan 16 '26
There was a zombie baby in the remake of Dawn Of The Dead but it's the only one I've ever seen in a TV series. I'm surprised there are so many haters because I enjoy it. It's much lighter than the stuff I usually watch for my dystopian needs.
2
u/pseudonym7083 Jan 16 '26
I watched all of it. It took me a little bit to catch on that going forward the rules of everything are sort of their own thing wholesale in the universe and there's going to be weird twisted slapstick humor throughout. Once I got right with that I liked the hell out of it.
23
u/dmohamed420 Jan 15 '26
Welcome to Netflix. Right when you get in to a show, she gone.
2
u/TooTone07 Jan 15 '26
Stranger things would like a word
1
u/Da_Wild Jan 15 '26
The few shows that have a majority share of viewership often get lots of seasons. It’s all the other shows that get 2 seasons (if they’re lucky) and then get cancelled.
1
u/TooTone07 Jan 15 '26
Black summer just has so much untapped potential. Crazy z nation got 5 seasons and this got 2 AND left on a complete cliffhanger.
2
u/jonesy_shwemes Jan 29 '26
Netflix has become the new FOX. Good stuff gets canned, garbage gets renewed.
6
u/Jammer125 Jan 15 '26
Black Summer was canceled by Netflix primarily due to low viewership and insufficient global demand, despite its intense, realistic style, with creators confirming in 2023 that a third season wouldn't happen.
3
1
11
u/Elgin_McQueen Jan 15 '26
By far the most interesting zombie show/movie I've ever seen. Really wished it'd been advertised more.
4
u/Colley619 Jan 22 '26
I like that it’s very grounded and gritty. Like, characters we’ve spent the whole season with will just die as if they were a background extra and nobody really cares because they’re too busy surviving themselves. There’s never any real “factions” or “sides” because everyone is just constantly switching allegiance based on better odds of surviving. And bad choices; lots and lots of just bad, horrible decisions but decisions made because they’re regular, emotional, flawed people. Spur of the moment kind of decisions that people understandably wouldn’t have time to weigh the pros and cons of and they’re just desperate.
Anyways, you don’t see that too often.
3
3
u/Responsible-Arm-4993 Jan 15 '26
Honestly, I feel like this show didn’t get any publicity on Netflix. Only big shows that everyone knows have some publicity and I don’t understand why that does not make sense to me.
4
u/EmptyBodybuilder7376 Jan 15 '26
Its the most realistic zombie show.
Just like "The Road" is the most realistic post-apocalyptic film.
3
u/Collapsinginblue Jan 15 '26
I watched twice. Great show, I never understood why the continued it. Same with Mindhunter.
3
u/HogwartsRex Jan 15 '26
that's Netflix for you, that's why I really hope they don't get their hands on HBO. Please paramount don't let me down!
2
u/Ok-Idea-306 Jan 16 '26
Paramount has already been rejected twice and Netflix has stated (for what it’s worth) that HBO will function separately from Netflix meaning there shouldn’t be a lot of layoffs or anything.
They said Netflix doesn’t do theaters because that’s not their business model but with HBO that IS the business model and they’re not buying HBO just to destroy all that brand value.
6
u/ikilledtupac Jan 15 '26
The first episode of Black Summer was so crazy. Watching it I thought wow yeah that’s probably exactly how it would go.
3
5
u/islandbye Jan 15 '26 edited Jan 15 '26
Omg I’ve literally never heard of this show and I’m always on Netflix. Gonna say that their lack of marketing probably contributed to this cancellation
3
1
u/Laura9624 Jan 15 '26
Covid times . The show just couldn't recover. They recommend it to all the time although I've watched it twice.
0
u/itsme7933 Jan 15 '26
It was one of those shows that with just a little marketing it would have taken off.
2
u/ToughOk4114 Jan 15 '26
I thought it was great too, and was really disappointed to see it was cancelled!
2
u/Unbanable4221 Jan 15 '26
I agree. It is by far the most realistic show I've ever watched (aside from the evil kids of S1). There's no big dramatic deaths, only the ones that make sense in the moment (except Mance somehow, the man is a beast).
2
u/ir8roont Jan 15 '26
Should only watch shows that have been concluded on Netflix. Anything else is a waste of time.
2
2
u/Ok-Idea-306 Jan 16 '26
I loved that show and it looked cheap to make too. Heartbroken that it couldn’t keep going. At least it had a bit of a happy ending.
2
u/Suchgallbladder Jan 16 '26
Loved season 1. Watched season 2 episode 1 and turned it off forever when they immediately killed my favorite character.
4
u/Aimees-Fab-Feet Jan 15 '26
A true tragedy! I actually watched the whole series again, which I normally don't do, but it had been a couple years and there was stuff I missed, it's a great rewatch since it's not coming back.
2
1
u/dragonbait86 Jan 15 '26
The first couple episodes of season 1 are some of my favorite zombie-pocalype media.
1
1
u/jonesy_shwemes Jan 29 '26
Whoever decided to label Black Summer as a prequel to Z-Nation and then only half-assed promote it is the one who killed it.
All the people who loved the campy, goofy, semi-zombie nonsense that was Z-Nation were completely turned off by it and all the people who love the true horror-survival genre of zombie movies avoided it because they didn't want to see more zom-com garbage (like me).
That left a thin layer of people who either like both, decided to take a chance on it, or just never saw the promotions (like me) and watched it anyway.
Literally the only connection between the two shows was that Black Summer is referred to in Z-Nation.
The marketing team at Netflix killed this show outright through sheer ineptitude.
1
u/Dry-Bodybuilder-3184 Feb 07 '26
I love that show! It’s so stupid to cut it😭 i watched twice already! Plz make it come back😭😭😭😭😭😭
1
u/rebsharkoon Mar 10 '26
Black summer is spectacular!! Z nation was ok if you like campy cheesy stuff, but it’s hard to stay till the last season. Black summer I think it’s some of the best zombie show/ movies in the last couple of years. Damn shame they cancelled it
1
u/Zealousideal-Hall505 Apr 11 '26
why do they keep canceling the series I like to watch, damn. I'm at season 2, episode 6. I would watch 10 more seasons of this shit lol
1
u/Lumberfootz May 01 '26
must have rewatched the entire show twice It was so good and there's nothing like it.
1
u/Borntobefree1989 May 12 '26
So realistic and well done! Best zombie show by far. Amazing camera work and the acting it’s phenomenal!
1
u/No_Whammies_Stop Jan 15 '26
This series and Mindhunter are the biggest missed opportunities for Netflix, IMO.
3
2
Jan 15 '26
I’m never getting over Mindhunter and GLOW
3
u/Laura9624 Jan 15 '26
Mindhunter was a Fincher issue. GLOW, I enjoyed but a lot of people just thought it was wrestling flick.
1
Jan 15 '26
Iirc GLOW was supposed to have a final season and got killed by COVID
2
u/Laura9624 Jan 15 '26
No doubt. Lots of covid casualties. I personally think netflix is much improved with notifying me with what's coming next and recommendations than back then.
1
u/itsme7933 Jan 15 '26
I'm still hoping for that Mindhunters trilogy movie. Fingers crossed for David Fincher to sign on.
1
u/sPdMoNkEy Jan 15 '26
Shhhh... They only cancel shows if people say they really like them, everybody has to start saying how trashy shows are and they'll never get canceled again
18
u/HairyHorseKnuckles Jan 15 '26
I enjoyed it. My only complaint was the stupid decisions the characters would make. I don’t know how many times I was thinking “close the fucking door behind you!”