Netflix now has a wide variety of dark comedies and animated shows for adults, and one of its best deserved way more than just one season. Over the years, Netflix has built a catalog of movies and TV shows that cover various genres and styles, and which are also aimed at different target audiences. When it comes to animated content, Netflix has a lot of family-friendly content as well as titles aimed exclusively at children, but it also has animated stories for a more mature audience.
Netflix has found great success with its adult animated shows, even though it has obviously seen some not-so-great projects. AmongNetflix’s most notable adult animated showsareBoJack HorsemanandBig Mouth, running for six and eight seasons, respectively. However, not all of Netflix’s best animated shows have lived for long, and some didn’t even go past one season. Falling into that category is the 2020 showThe Midnight Gospel, which, despite its success, was canceled after just one season.
The Midnight Gospel Was Unlike Netflix’s Other Animated Shows
The Midnight Gospel Stood Out
Created by Pendleton Ward and Duncan Trussell,The Midnight Gospelis based on episodes from Trussell’s podcastThe Duncan Trussell Family Hour.The Midnight Gospelis set in a dimension known as the Chromatic Ribbon, and it follows Clancy Gilroy (voiced by Trussell), a spacecaster who owns an unlicensed multiverse simulator. Thanks to it,Clancy travels through different and bizarre worlds that are facing disaster, and interviews some of their residents. Clancy visits a new planet in each episode, returning to his planet at the end.
Clancy’s interviews are based on those from Trussell’s podcast, with real audio sampled from them with a couple of additions. What madeThe Midnight Gospeldifferent from the rest of Netflix’s adult animated series was not only its trippy animation style, but also the topics addressed in it (which were part of the podcast).The Midnight Gospeldealt with philosophy, spirituality, existentialism, magic, and transcendence, as well as recreational substance use, different perspectives on death, forgiveness, love, family, the life cycle, and more.
As weird as the animation might be sometimes, it complements the dialogue and topics covered in the interview, sometimes very directly and others in more symbolic ways. This way,each episode ofThe Midnight Gospelis an immersive experience, leaving the audience with a lot to think about various topics.
Why The Midnight Gospel Was Canceled After 1 Season
The Midnight Gospel Is Eight Episodes Long
The Midnight Gospelwas very well-received by critics, and currently holds a 91% critics score onRotten Tomatoeswith an 89% popcornmeter score.The Midnight Gospelwas praised for its animation, insight, topics, originality, and overall quality, with the final episode, “Mouse of Silver”, getting the most praise. However, despite its success and positive reception from critics and general audiences,The Midnight Gospelwas canceled after just one season. Although a reason wasn’t given when the show’s cancellation was announced, Trussell later opened up about it.
The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation arrived at a time when Netflix was going through financial trouble.
Speaking toInversein 2022,Trussell shared thatThe Midnight Gospel’s cancellationwas all about business, asanimation is expensive, and the show didn’t build a big enough fanbaseto justify producing more episodes (although, to be fair, it takes more than one season to build a strong fanbase). According toAdWeek,The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation arrived at a time when Netflix was going through financial trouble and various animated projects were canceled, such asCentaurworldandThe Twits.
Netflix Hasn’t Done Anything Like The Midnight Gospel Again
Netflix Has Many Adult Animated Shows, But None Like The Midnight Gospel
Unfortunately,The Midnight Gospelhasn’t gotten a second season, and it most likely won’t in the future, but Netflix hasn’t done anything like it again. At the time ofThe Midnight Gospel’s cancellation, Netflix hadBig Mouth,Castlevania,Final Space,Disenchantment, andLove, Death & Robots, among others, and while they covered different genres and some addressed serious topics,none have gone on a deeper, philosophical, trippier route likeThe Midnight Gospel(althoughLove, Death & Robotshas gotten very close to it).
The Midnight Gospelhad a lot of potential, and had it gotten more seasons, it surely would have expanded its horizons in terms of topics and animation, giving the audience a different experience with each episode. It’s to be seen if Netflix will do something likeThe Midnight Gospelagain, but Trussell’s show deserved a lot more than just eight episodes.
