What Netflix Just Did To ‘Inside Job’ Season 2 Is Brutal

While Netflix cancelling a show is not exactly breaking news at this point, this week we have a unique case with Inside Job, and its newly aflame mob of angry fans.

Inside Job was not just cancelled after season 1, it was actually un-renewed, a rare move that is sadly becoming increasingly more common in the tumultuous streaming era. Inside Job is a series from former Gravity Falls writer Shion Takeuchi that posits a world where conspiracy theories are real. It started with a 20 episode order that was broken up into two parts, and back in June of 2022, after the first slate of 10 episodes aired, it was renewed for season 2.

Then things…changed. What apparently may have happened is that Netflix didn’t like some sort of metrics attached to the second batch of 10 episodes which arrived in November of 2022. And that has led them to cancel the series this week after previously renewing it, which was confirmed by Takeuchi herself online:

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It has been a brutal period for animation recently, particularly over at WB Discovery which saw a host of cancelled shows and some removed from its library entirely. Netflix, in general, has tended to do better with animated projects compared to its rivals, but this current situation reminds me of when they cancelled the much-praised Tuca and Bertie, which was forced to flee elsewhere for renewal.

The act of renewing a show and cancelling it is rare, but we’ve seen it before. Netflix famously renewed GLOW for a final season and then reversed that decision, cancelling the series without a proper conclusion, though at the time, they cited COVID-based production issues for that decision. Here, this is likely some combination of metrics and cost-cutting, but fans are not amused whatever the reason, and Inside Job was trending with over 50,000 tweets in a few hours yesterday, as it now joins Netflix’s graveyard of unfinished series.

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This is a different situation than the show’s predecessor, Gravity Falls, which ended on its own accord and reached its natural conclusion, according to its creator. It’s not clear how many seasons Inside Job had planned, but it was not given even a second one to expand, while other animated shows like Big Mouth are entering their seventh season after renewal. We may not know the exact reasons why this happened, other than generalities about cost, viewership and “completion rates,” but it’s still a shame, particularly after fans (and those making the show itself) had already been promised a second season was coming.

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