Despite originally being renewed for a fourth and final season, Netflix has cancelled GLOW.
Deadline reported that Netflix has reversed its renewal decision due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Netflix had originally committed to a fourth season of the show back in August of 2019.
“COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show. Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW,” series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch said in a statement. “We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone. There’s a lot of sh*tty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don’t get to see these 15 women in a frame together again.”
“We’ve made the difficult decision not to do a fourth season of GLOW due to COVID, which makes shooting this physically intimate show with its large ensemble cast especially challenging,” A Netflix spokesperson told Deadline. “We are so grateful to creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Jenji Kohan and all the writers, cast and crew for sharing this story about the incredible women of GLOW with us and the world.”
The report said that over the last several months, Netflix had been finding ways to put the show back into production. But the season wouldn’t have premiered until early 2022, two in a half years after the premiere of season three. That plus the uncertainty of COVID-19 and the physical aspect of the show were the reasons for cancellation.
GLOW was loosely based on the real like Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion that was run by David McLane that aired in syndication from 1986 through 1990. The Netflix show starred Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, and Marc Maron. It earned fifteen Emmy nominations and won three.