Pictured: Criminals Minds, Reign and The Originals
Netflix in the United States has just relicensed and renewed some of the biggest shows that have been removed over the past few months. Criminal Minds, Reign, and The Originals have returned to the service.
As you may know, Netflix licenses many movies and TV shows from third-party providers like Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery.
They license these titles for a fixed period and at the end of the period, it’s down to both parties to renew.
Given the ramp-up in streaming services often owned by companies previously licensed to Netflix, many have chosen not to renew or even license titles to Netflix anymore in favor of stocking their own services.
That leads us to this year, where we’ve seen the removal of some huge shows and included in three big shows Criminal Minds, Reign, and The Originals. But as our article suggests, all three are back available after being removed.
Criminal Minds (Seasons 1-12)
Removed from Netflix: June 30th, 2022
Criminal Minds – Picture: Paramount
Yes, Criminal Minds is back after a huge removal in late June 2022. The news went far and wide on the internet but has been restored to Netflix US as of August 18th, 2022.
Sadly, Netflix only got back what it lost. That means there are still at least 3 missing seasons that can only be found exclusively on Paramount+.
As the Entertainment Strategy Guy wrote for The Ankler, this removal was particularly big given how much viewership it had on Netflix, comparing the removal to losing “its Jason Giambi” (whatever that means). According to Nielsen numbers, the show reportedly clocked up 1.333 billion hours in the US alone.
Our intel suggests that Netflix has renewed Criminal Minds for a year (ie it’ll expire again in 2023).
The Originals
Removed from Netflix: July 1st, 2022
Picture: Warner Bros. Television
The Originals removal came unexpectedly as it fell outside the traditional “lifetime plus 5 years” window most shows from The CW have.
Nevertheless, on July 1st, every episode of the five-season series departed Netflix in the US but as of August 18th, they’re back again!
The renewal does give us some hope that The Vampire Diaries, which is due to leave in September 2022, could get a renewal too. If it does get renewed, the Vampire Diaries universe (including Legacies) will be available exclusively on Netflix in full.
Our intel suggests that Netflix has renewed The Originals for a year.
Reign
Removed from Netflix: June 24th, 2022
Seasons 1-3 of Reign was removed from Netflix in June 2022 with season 4 surprisingly managing to survive the initial chop. The fourth and final season was then due to leave in September 2022.
However, on August 18th, all three of the first seasons found themselves on Netflix again but unlike the other two series listed above, a removal notice for September 2022 is currently showing. That means Reign’s return to Netflix US could be short-lived.
So what’s happening here? In the case of all three, they’re either owned by Warner Bros. Television Distribution or Paramount. We guess they’ve opted to renew, given the shifting strategies both companies are taking with their streaming services.
In the case of Warner Bros. Discovery, they’ve been removing Originals and even licensed out All American: Homecoming to Netflix instead of putting it onto its own platform.
Are you glad these three shows are back on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
