Like the rest of the world, the entertainment industry took a big hit at the peak of the global coronavirus pandemic. At the time, scores of television and film sets were closed down as early as March, with some only resuming now.
For the Emmy-nominated series GLOW, a Netflix staple for the past few years, a hiatus has now turned into a cancellation.
In a report from Variety, the series, starring Alison Brie, was meant to resume it’s fourth and final season, however, due to COVID-19, it has now been cancelled altogether.
The series, about a troupe of female professional wrestlers in the 80s, saw the actors perform physically “intimate” scenes, something that is not able to continue in this “new normal”.
In a statement provided by Netflix, a spokesperson said that they made the “difficult decision not to do a fourth season of GLOW due to COVID, which makes shooting this physically intimate show with its large ensemble cast especially challenging.”
“We are so grateful to creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Jenji Kohan and all the writers, cast and crew for sharing this story about the incredible women of GLOW with us and the world,” the statement said.
Production had already begun on the fourth and final season, however, was shut down due to the pandemic.
Series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch said that the pandemic has “killed actual humans” and that being a “tragedy” it should be their primary focus.
“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 shitty 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. We’ll miss our cast of weirdo clowns and our heroic crew. It was the best job.”
As for the cast, which included Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron, Sydelle Noel, Kate Nash, Britney Young, Gayle Rankin, Kia Stevens, Sunita Mani, Jackie Tohn, Kimmy Gatewood, Britt Baron, Rebekka Johnson, Ellen Wong, Chris Lowell, Marianna Palka, Shakira Barrera, and Bashir Salahuddin, Variety has reported that all series regulars have been “paid in full” for the final season.
The cancellation of the series is an addition to a long list of other series cancelled due to the pandemic. Netflix cancelled The Society and I Am Not Okay With This, while ABC canned Stumptown and Amazon, Cortes y Moctezuma.