Why did Netflix cancel Chilling Adventures of Sabrina?

The Kiernan Shipka-led series is ending with part 4, which will be released later this year

Why did Netflix cancel Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? 1

Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) has cast her last spell but fans have to wait until later this year to see it.

On Wednesday, Netflix announced that the supernatural horror series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is ending with its eight-episode part 4, which will be released later this year.

Though fans were surprised by the show’s cancellation, it appears that developer, executive producer and showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has known for quite some time that the series is concluding with part 4. In a statement following the streamer’s announcement, Aguirre-Sacasa thanked Netflix for letting them “tell the story we wanted to tell, the way we wanted to tell it.”

Netflix didn’t give any reason behind the cancellation, but the streamer’s decision to pull the plug on the series follows a particular trend. Netflix has been notorious for ending shows around the season 2 and season 3 range or when a series passes the 30-episode mark. The explanation behind this practice is that contracts and bonuses have been known to get more expensive following those milestones. And with Chilling Adventures of Sabrina ending with a total of 36 episodes, it’s likely that Netflix thought that ordering another season of the series will be too costly to produce.

In part 4 of the series, the Eldritch Terrors will descend upon Greendale and the coven must fight each terrifying threat one-by-one (The Weird, The Returned, The Darkness to name a few), all leading up to The Void, which is the End of All Things. As the witches wage war, with the help of The Fright Club, Nick (Gavin Leatherwood) begins to slowly earn his way back into Sabrina’s heart, but will it be too late?

In addition to Shipka and Leatherwood, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina also stars Miranda Otto, Richard Coyle, Ross Lynch, Lucy Davis, Chance Perdomo, Michelle Gomez, Jaz Sinclair, Lachlan Watson, Tati Gabrielle, Adeline Rudolph, and Abigail Cowen, among many others.

Originally developed for The CW, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an offshoot of the network’s teen drama series Riverdale. It’s unclear, however, if certain characters from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina could make the jump to Riverdale in the future.

Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, Screen Rant
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