Netflix has announced that Ginny and Georgia is now back in production, that is, it is already beginning to film its third season. It has taken 16 months since the platform premiered the second one and confirmed that, against all odds for the media, they had a phenomenon on their hands: it was the second most viewed series in the first half of 2023, only behind another novelty such as The night agent.
This time there is the excuse that there was a strike of writers and actors involved but, taking into account that 23 months passed between the first and second seasons, perhaps it should not be interpreted so much as an exception but as a rule for Netflix. Even when it comes across a hit without too many production hurdles, the platform has trouble squeezing out this interest from the audience.
As I said, it is a constant. The Bridgertons, for example, will return on May 16 after premiering their second season in March 2022. The launch of a prequel focused on Queen Charlotte could be a way to entertain fans during the absence of the romantic series but It wasn’t the Bridgerton brothers’ romantic drama.
Wednesday, which broke records in November 2022 and even surpassed the performance of Stranger Things by becoming the series for all audiences par excellence (and to watch with the family), is still missing in action. Yes, this spring it is planned to film new episodes with Jenna Ortega in Ireland after having used locations in Romania for the first season.
These are three very striking examples of extremely popular series in the platform’s catalog that, for incomprehensible reasons, do not capitalize on their success in a more conventional way. Because, let’s be honest, none of these three series is precisely groundbreaking or conceived as a phenomenon-series that must be properly rationed: they are a clear translation of traditional television, spiced up with streaming licenses.
Stranger things, The witcher or Sandman can justify the delays due to the obstacles they face from production and the finishing of the visual effects. Netflix surely wouldn’t want to, even if the Duffer brothers could, turn the Stranger Things budget line into an annual tradition: it is part of a blockbuster television tradition that, with House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, The Rings of Power or the extinct Westworld, is already assumed to be an event that is at least biennial.
Wednesday is still a pseudo-cynical update that draws on Smallville, where its creators came from, Riverdale and any teen series seen on linear television in the last three decades (and with seasons of 22 episodes each year). The Bridgertons is the perversion of the British period tradition that goes from any adaptation of Jane Austen’s work to Downton Abbey which, remember, produced nine episodes a year. And Ginny and Georgia is a twist to the mold of Gilmore Girls and any youth series on American cable, which produced between 13 and 22 episodes per season.
From the mental framework of someone who lived through the pre-streaming television era, it is difficult to assume that such conventional, recognizable series without precisely challenging quality standards take so long to return. How can it be that the writing teams are not working on the scripts from the moment the previous season premieres? How can it be that they are incapable of creating an annual appointment?
The strike of writers and actors affected all of Hollywood, yes, but Grey’s Anatomy, 9-1-1 and many other free-to-air television series in the United States have already been able to return. On Netflix, however, the most commercial and accessible series, instead of having well-oiled gears, seem to follow production deadlines concocted by bureaucrats.
