Netflix Cancels GLOW, Fourth Season Scuttled By COVID-19

COVID-19 has pinned GLOW to the mat, as the popular wrestling-themed dramedy will not be going forward with its fourth season. Deadline reports that Netflix has decided to cancel the show that was loosely based on the 1980s women’s wrestling company, reversing a decision made back in September of 2019 to renew the show for a fourth and final run.

GLOW had actually been in production for a few weeks when COVID-19 caused the film and TV industry to go into full shutdown mode. The decision to cancel the series was made on a host of cost-related factors; while Netflix had been working on ways to get the show back into production ever since the shutdown, the wrestling aspects made it difficult to get up and running due to the close contact and physicality needed. GLOW was already an expensive series, and the additional COVID safety precautions pushed the budget past the breaking point, particularly since the show would not have been able to get on the air until 2022 which meant that Netflix execs weren’t confident that a big enough audience would be back after an extended delay.

Series creators Flahive and Carly Mensch said in a statement, “COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show. Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW. We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone. There’s a lot of sh*tty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don’t get to see these 15 women in a frame together again.”

The show won three Emmy Awards and was nominated for 18 over its three seasons, including two for Betty Gilpin for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Deadline reports that all of the series regulars for season four will be paid in full.