Picture: Netflix
Hamish Steele, the author and creator of Netflix’s animated kids’ series Dead End: Paranormal Park, has announced the series has ended after two seasons.
Originally called DeadEndia, Netflix commissioned the 20 episodes of Dead End: Paranormal Park in 2020 with season 1 releasing on June 16th, 2022, and the second and what will now be the final batch of episodes on October 13th, 2022.
The series, based on a comic book series, was about two teens and a talking pug teaming up to battle demons at a haunted theme park all while saving the world from a supernatural apocalypse.
The series was praised for its representation of LGBTQ characters and held a 100% RottenTomatoes score. The show also led to an open letter from five Republican senators to the TV Parental Guidelines Monitoring Board over “disturbing” LGBTQ+ content.
In total, the show spent ten days in the US kid’s top 10s but failed to make it into the overall TV top 10s.
On January 13th, 2023 Hamish Steele announced the cancelation of the show to his followers on Twitter with a statement that reads as follows:
“Hello friends,
I have held onto this news for a while now, hoping that we could reverse it, change it, make something good out of it. But sadly I don’t think that’s possible right now.
It’s with a heavy heart that I tell you Dead End is over.
Obviously, we never wanted this to be the case. In fact, we did a writers room for Season 3. We have scripts and designs and outlines ready to go. It was always the plan to give these characters the proper ending they deserve. But sadly, the powers that be don’t want any more.
Honestly, we were lucky to make it through everything happening in the last few years. And I want to emphasize my gratitude to Netflix for commissioning the show and for giving us the freedom to tell this story. We made history together and I couldn’t be prouder of those twenty episodes and every single member of our crew.
I want to give a huge thank you to the fans. Your art, cosplay, fic, reactions, TikToks and every interaction with me has been a delight. I never could have dreamed of a warmer response.
I’ve been so anxious to post this news thinking about you lot. I hope you’ll be ok.
So… a sad day. But I believe we will finish this story some day, some how. For now, I am working hard on the third and final DeadEndia book which I hope offers some closure. Our Season 3 plan was based heavily on it. And I continue to pitch shows with the same heart as Dead End.
But until then, I hope Barney, Norma, Pugsley, Courtney
and the whole Phoenix Parks crew will continue to give
you comfort in times of darkness.-Hamish”
The full Tweet thread can be seen below:
sad news
(full text in the thread) pic.twitter.com/XdXrf6uUmI
— hamish steele! (@hamishsteele) January 13, 2023
Hamish concluded his Twitter thread by saying the best way to support the franchise’s future is by buying DeadEndia: The Broken Halo.
This comes just a few days after the creator of Netflix’s Inside Job announced that a decision to renew the series had been reversed and is the fourth major cancelation of 2023.
It also comes over a two-year period where several high-profile kids’ animation projects at Netflix have been canceled early or even before they saw the light of day.
Do you wish Dead End: Paranormal Park was renewed for a third season on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
