How have I only just found out that Netflix has quietly canceled the best zombie show Black Summer? Sadly, I'm not surprised, given just how many cancelations I've seen these days and how few people streamed it. But it still deserves the same praise as other creature features and I'm going to celebrate this fact by re-watching it.
Funnily enough, I discovered this news after writing about five shows canceled by Netflix in 2024 so far that you should still watch, so I'll be going back to update this – make sure to bookmark the article to find out what else makes the cut.
Black Summer debuted on the best streaming service back in 2019, with season 2 of the horror series following two years later. Any news of Black Summer's future went quiet until co-creator John Hyams tweeted in April 2023 that a third season wouldn't be happening. Since then, What's On Netflix has reported that Netflix officially canceled the Z-Nation spin-off, despite having an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Unfortunately, the streaming giant is known to cancel much-loved shows and Black Summer is another one to end up on the scrap heap, with What's On Netflix citing low viewership figures as the reason for its axing.
It's a shame that Black Summer has completely flown under the radar compared to other undead shows like The Walking Dead and The Last of Us, considering it's frantic, heart-pounding action is probably one of the most realistic portrayals of how humans would react to a zombie apocalypse.
A Netflix gem now (un)dead and buried
Black Summer is a prequel spin-off to Z Nation, and takes places a few weeks after the start of a zombie apocalypse. It follows a group of strangers from all walks of life trying to survive and find their loved ones. This group consists of Rose (Jaime King), a mother trying to reunite with her daughter, Spears (Justin Chu Cary), a criminal posing as a soldier who saved Rose's life, and Sun (Christine Lee), a Korean woman who doesn’t speak English looking for her missing mother. During their endeavor, they meet other survivors as well as an abundance of zombies.
The characters are realistic in their desperate fight for survival, making it a convincing portrayal of what humans are capable of in terrifying life and death situations. The zombie genre often faces criticism about how people with no shooting experience can pick up a gun and miraculously hit a target while running or doing it one-handed – something that would be extremely hard for professionals to do let alone a normal person. However, this isn't the case in Black Summer. They can't shoot straight or effectively and struggle to land a successful head shot on a zombie a few feet in front of them.
They also make reckless decisions that will have you shouting at your screen, but where Black Summer impresses is with its camera work. The long one take sequences thrust you into the heart of the chaos, making you feel like you're experiencing the same turmoil unfold – I mean, that stadium scene is something else. I know some people don't like the 'running zombie' trope, and there's plenty of them in this best Netflix show, but it does help to evoke a sense of sheer terror from the watchers, just like the protagonists are going through.
It's sad to see this Netflix gem now buried after two seasons, but I can only hope that it will come back from the dead if another streamer picked it up. Now that there isn't a third season, fans won't get any answers to the season 2 cliffhanger, but don't let this stop you from watching this very good, but stressful series - and with Halloween around the corner, it's the perfect time to get stuck in.
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