Less than two months after ‘The Abandons‘ rode onto Netflix, the streamer has already brought its Old West journey to a halt.
The Western drama starring Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey premiered on Dec. 5, 2025, but it won’t be returning for another round despite a promising early run on the charts.
Netflix Pulls The Plug On ‘The Abandons’ After Season 1
Netflix has officially cancelled ‘The Abandons‘ after just one season. That means Anderson and Headey’s frontier showdown ends here, with no Season 2 renewal moving forward. The cancellation comes down to a tough mix of money and momentum.
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‘The Abandons‘ reportedly cost a lot to produce, and Netflix didn’t see the viewership it needed to justify continuing. Even though the series cracked the Top 10 at launch, it didn’t stay there long enough to build the kind of lasting audience Netflix was aiming for.
In Netflix’s newly released “What We Watched” report, the numbers showed ‘The Abandons‘ pulled in 19.8 million views during its first 28 days on the platform. And after that initial window, the show’s performance didn’t hold steady. Hence, the axe.
Why Netflix Took The Harsh Decision
Even though Netflix cut the series early, ‘The Abandons‘ didn’t start off as a flop. The show spent two weeks in Netflix’s Top 10 for English-language series, ranking at No. 4 in both its first and second weeks after release. It also opened with solid weekly numbers. The show brought in 7.4 million views during its first week and followed that with 7.6 million in week two, which gave it a sense of real momentum. But the growth didn’t continue, and the show quickly slipped out of the Top 10 list.
After that, the drop became hard to ignore. ‘The Abandons‘ only added another 4.8 million views over the next 17 days, bringing the 28-day total to 19.8 million. For a high-budget Western, Netflix clearly expected stronger staying power, and the quick fall-off likely made the decision easier.
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Behind the scenes, the series also faced creative turbulence. Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter created ‘The Abandons‘ for Netflix, but he exited the project just three weeks before production ended. Reports linked his departure to creative differences, and Netflix reportedly grew concerned when the first cut of episode one came in at nearly 2 hours.
When the team couldn’t cut the episode down, they decided to split it into two parts instead. That change required additional scenes to be filmed, which added pressure to a production that was already going over budget. Season 1 ultimately ran for seven episodes, and Netflix released all seven at the same time.
While some viewers enjoyed the show’s style, the critical response was harsh. ‘The Abandons‘ currently holds a “rotten” 30% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, along with a slightly more favorable 52% audience score. That gap shows the show still found some support, but not enough to outweigh the negative buzz.
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