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By Amanda Greenwood
Associate News Editor
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Fans have been left reeling after Netflix recently announced that season five of its legal drama The Lincoln Lawyer will be its last.
Although executive producer Ted Humphrey confirmed that filming was already underway, with 10 episodes planned based on Resurrection Walk—the seventh novel in Michael Connelly's Lincoln Lawyer series—the news is likely to come as a shock to many.
According to Deadline, the show spent 29 weeks in Netflix's Global Top 10 and racked up more than 170 million views across its four seasons, proving its popularity.
Viewer reaction has largely been one of confusion and frustration. One fan wrote on X: "Forcing The Lincoln Lawyer to wrap up after season 5 when Mickey Haller has enough charisma to carry the platform for a decade is actual madness. Netflix truly hates letting people enjoy good television." Another added: "It's wild. The show has strong viewership, great source material from the books, and a lead with insane screen presence."
But The Lincoln Lawyer isn't the only popular TV series that Netflix has canceled this year.
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The Abandons, Terminator Zero, F1: The Academy and Tyler Perry's Miss Governor are among the platform's recently axed shows. So far in 2026, at least 11 shows, including The Lincoln Lawyer, have been canceled after only a few seasons—some not even making it past their first.
Although Netflix hasn't given a reason for each cancellation, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Bloomberg in 2023 that the streamer had "never canceled a successful show," adding, "You have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget."
Here's a look at the shows leaving Netflix in 2026, what they were about, and how audiences and critics rated them.
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The Abandons
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 50 percent
IMDb score: 6.4/10
According to IMDb, Netflix canceled this series after just one season because the "cost didn’t yield the viewership Netflix had hoped for."
A Western drama set in 19th‑century Washington, The Abandons followed rival families caught in a violent land dispute. Seen by some as providing a potential fix for Yellowstone fans, the big-budget show started strongly, according to Deadline, spending two weeks in the Netflix Top 10 for English Series before fading away.
Creator Kurt Sutter, who left the project before filming had finished, criticized the decision, accusing Netflix of prioritizing "algorithm over creator’s vision" in a post on Instagram.
Terminator Zero
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 79 percent
IMDb score: 6.9/10
Despite plans for a five-season series, back in February, IMDb reported that Terminator Zero had been canceled after just one season.
A Netflix anime set in the Terminator universe follows a soldier from a machine‑ruled future who travels back to 1997 Tokyo to protect a scientist developing an AI that could stop humanity’s destruction—while a relentless Terminator hunts them down.
Creator Mattson Tomlin said the series was canceled because "not nearly enough people watched it," even though it had a "tremendous" audience and critical reception.
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The Vince Staples Show
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 89 percent
IMDb score: 7.4/10
IMDb cited that Variety had confirmed that The Vince Staples Show has been canceled, despite securing a season 2.
The Vince Staples Show was a semi‑autobiographical comedy series that followed rapper Vince Staples, who played a fictionalized version of himself, as he navigated everyday life in his hometown of Long Beach, California.
Although it scored high reviews, the show just didn’t attract a wide enough audience and never made it to Netflix’s Weekly Top 10, according to Deadline.
Pop the Balloon
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 3 percent
IMDb score: 2.6/10
After just one season, Netflix decided to cancel the real-time dating series, Pop the Balloon, according to IMDb.
The dating show was essentially a fast‑paced, often brutally honest dating experiment that was built around instant attraction and rejection.
The show was canceled after just one season, because it reportedly didn’t get the audience engagement it was expecting—which is perhaps reflected by the poor IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes scores—after the success of other unscripted dating shows like Love is Blind, according to What’s On Netflix.
Selling the City
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: n/a
IMDb score: 5.5/10
According to TMZ, "direct sources" confirmed that real estate reality TV show Selling the City will not be returning for another season.
A spinoff of Selling Sunset, the show followed a group of ambitious real estate agents working in New York City’s luxury property market as they compete to sell high-end homes and close multimillion‑dollar deals.
Netflix canceled the series after one season as part of a strategic shift away from spinoffs and toward core franchises, TMZ said.
With Love, Meghan
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Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 26 percent
IMDb score: 3.2/10
While Netflix hasn’t publicly detailed the cancellation, after airing for two seasons, E! News reported that Meghan Markle’s lifestyle and reality series will not be coming back for a third.
Instead, the show, which followed Markle as she threw dinner parties and shared cooking, hosting, and design tips, will launch one-off episodes, according to E! News.
Class
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 87 percent
IMDb score: 6.3/10
Fiction Horizon (quoted by IMDb) confirmed that Class has been officially canceled, after just one season, despite season 2 being announced. Actor Ayesha Kanga reportedly said that the second season of Class is "not happening," according to NewsBytes.
Class was a teen drama set in an elite private school in India, where students from vastly different social backgrounds were thrown together to explore class inequality, privilege, and identity.
Miss Governor
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 75 percent
IMDb score: 4.8/10
What’s on Netflix, cited by IMDb, reported that Miss Governor, a political drama from Tyler Perry, centered around a Black woman trying to navigate political and personal challenges after becoming a state leader, will not be returning for a second series.
F1: The Academy
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Rotten Tomatoes audience score: n/a
IMDb score: 6.6/10
Despite the success of F1: Drive to Survive (which has just been renewed for a ninth season), according to What’s on Netflix, the documentary-style spinoff series, which followed women competing in Formula 1’s developmental circuit, will not be returning for another series.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: 84 percent
IMDb score: 7.8/10
Netflix confirmed that the upcoming fifth season of The Lincoln Lawyer "will be the final season of the legal drama." The executive producers, Humphrey (who also created the show) and Dailyn Rodriguez, said, "All good things must come to an end, but thankfully sometimes how they come to an end is up to us," teasing a "satisfying finale" for season 5.
What’s in the Box?
Rotten Tomatoes audience score: n/a
IMDb score: 6.2/10
Although no formal announcement has been made, What’s on Netflix confirmed that Netflix has decided not to renew the game show for another season, citing TV reporter Matt Mitovich as saying, "I am hearing there are no plans at this time for more episodes of the Neil Patrick Harris-hosted game show."
What’s in the Box was a show hosted by Neil Patrick Harris in which contestants competed in mystery‑based challenges involving hidden prizes.
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