{"id":752167,"date":"2026-07-09T08:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752167\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:06:10","slug":"netflix-series-chief-on-the-boroughs-cancellation-virgin-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/752167\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Series Chief On ‘The Boroughs’ Cancellation & ‘Virgin River’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tAs Netflix<\/a> is celebrating 111 Emmy nominations, the streamer also is on a ratings high, with its first American Harlan Coben<\/a> adaptation, I Will Find You<\/a> starring Sam Worthington, amassing 74.1M views in 18 days<\/a>, on track to potentially crack Netflix\u2019s Top 10 most popular English series list where Coben\u2019s UK-made Fool Me Once previously held a spot.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHarlan is brilliant, he really understands his audience, we\u2019ve had so much success, and I Will Find You is very much tracking to be up there, as you say,\u201d Netflix\u2019s Head of UCAN Scripted Series Jinny Howe<\/a> said during an interview tied to the streamer\u2019s Emmy nominations<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re very proud of its performance, it continues to be successful and watched around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tUnder Netflix\u2019s partnership with the prolific author, the streamer has released 13 series adaptations of his novels to date made across multiple countries, with more underway \u2014 including a show based on the Myron Bolitar books headlined by Colin Woodell<\/a>. I Will Find You\u2018s breakout success is sure to fuel a further Harlan Coben slate expansion.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re just focused on looking for the best stories; he\u2019s got a trove of characters, and he really, really understands how to be a great partner with us and bring those stories to fans around the world,\u201d Howe said. \u201cSo this has been very, very successful for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tSeason 2 Ratings Slippage \t<\/p>\n

\n\tOver the last six months, Netflix has found success with thriller limited series such as His & Hers, currently No. 10 on the Top 10 Most Popular English Series list, and I Will Find You.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, a slew of series have experienced a \u201csophomore slump,\u201d posting steep year-to-year viewership declines<\/a> in their Season 2 opening weeks. For Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Four Seasons, A Good Girl\u2019s Guide, Beef and A Man On the Inside, the drops have been over 55%.<\/p>\n

\n\tHowe says the season-to-season premiere week comparison does not provide the full picture. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think for us, it\u2019s not necessarily something that we understand to be true of our shows,\u201d Howe said about the \u201csophomore slump\u201d phenomenon. \u201cIt does feel like we still have many shows like Bridgerton, that was one of the biggest seasons that we\u2019ve had, and it feels like we have been able to grow subsequent seasons of shows, so for us it doesn\u2019t feel like something that we\u2019re overly concerned or focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIndeed, all of the ongoing series listed above, along with Running Point, whose second season opened 43% below Season 1, have been renewed for Season 3.<\/p>\n

\n\tDeadline has noted that romantic series like Bridgerton, Virgin River<\/a>, Emily In Paris and Nobody Wants This have been more resilient with modest season-to-season premiere viewership declines.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd while Netflix has not revealed numbers for Bridgerton Season 4 beyond the series\u2019 tallies on the Weekly Top 10 rankers, the latest installment is said to have amassed 97.3M views in its first 91 days, just outside of the Top 10 most popular list where His & Hers sits at No. 10 with 98.2M views. (Season 1 and Season 3 of the Regency drama are on the list at No. 7 and N.9, respectively.)<\/p>\n

\n\tNetflix also puts emphasis on catalogue play, with overall performance evaluated on how much viewership a series collects between season drops and how big of a bump previous installments get as a new one is released.<\/p>\n

\n\tStranger Things is a skewed example, being one of Netflix\u2019s biggest series ever, but it collected more than 70M a year across the first four seasons in 2023 and 2024 with no new episodes released.<\/p>\n

\t\t\u2018Virgin River\u2019 Keeps Running\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of those resilient Netflix series is Virgin River, the longest-running original scripted show on the streamer, which is currently filming its eighth installment. Is the end in sight or could the romantic drama keep going?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cAll I\u2019m going to say is the fans of this show are going to continue to get what they want as long as they want, and we are being very thoughtful about how to make sure we are both serving but protecting the fandom,\u201d Howe said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\u2018The Boroughs\u2019 Demise\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of Netflix\u2019s highest-profile cancellations so far this year was The Boroughs<\/a>, the Stranger Things-esque series executive produced by the Duffer Brothers and starring Alfred Molina, Geena Davis, Alfre Woodard, Denis O\u2019Hare, Clarke Peters and Bill Pullman.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Deadline noted,<\/a> the series, which opened to strong reviews and soft viewership, carried a big price tag, something that factors into Netflix\u2019s renewal decisions. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe news of The Boroughs\u2018 cancellation broke five days before the end of the Emmy voting window. Nominations came out today, with the show shut out completely despite O\u2019Hare urging voters<\/a> post-cancellations to recognize it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s so many factors that go into when we ultimately decide that we\u2019re not going to be able to bring a show back; it\u2019s something we\u2019re really thoughtful and considerate about,\u201d Howe said about the cancellation. \u201cI know you know that there were a lot of different factors that weighed into that decision in particular. We\u2019re really, really proud of that show, we think they delivered a very entertaining cinematic experience for many, many people who loved it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As Netflix is celebrating 111 Emmy nominations, the streamer also is on a ratings high, with its first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,68562,308355,73231,217,255025,92,219],"class_list":["post-752167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-harlan-coben","tag-i-will-find-you","tag-jinny-howe","tag-netflix","tag-the-boroughs","tag-tv","tag-virgin-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=752167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}