Early in the year, Archive 81 was one of the first casualties of Netflix's new strategy. Boasting an intriguing premise about an archivist who is hired to restore a collection of tapes and uncovers evidence of a dangerous cult, Archive 81 was released in January 2022 and was canceled just two months later. The move came as a considerable surprise since the show had racked up about 130 million viewing hours and even cracked Netflix's and Nielsen's Top 10 lists.

The Michael B. Jordan-starring series Raising Dion was also canceled after just two seasons despite it being one of Netflix's best comic book adaptations and landing among the streaming service's most-watched shows for four weeks in February. Similarly, The Baby-Sitters Club was praised for its adaptation of its source material and cultivated a large fan following but was also axed after two seasons. The Steve Carell-starring workplace comedy Space Force, which never quite caught on the way it was expected to, was not renewed after two seasons. Some other canceled Netflix shows which flew under the radar this year include On The Verge, Gentefied, Another Life, and Pretty Smart.

More recently, the anticipated video game adaptation Resident Evil was released on Netflix this summer and promptly canceled. Despite having tremendous success on Netflix with The Haunting anthology series and Midnight Mass, Mike Flanagan's The Midnight Club was canceled after just one season. While each one of these cancelations has been difficult for Netflix, the show's creators, and the audiences who enjoy them, each one has been a business decision, which Friedlander explains, as each show's viewing hours just weren't enough to justify their individual production budgets.