Space Force – Picture: Netflix
Space Force is one of Netflix’s biggest comedy projects to date which stars The Office’s Steve Carrell. Despite major cost cutting it wasn’t enough to warrant the show coming back for future episodes with the show now officially canceled as of April 2022.
This article was first published on February 21st and has been updated over time to reflect new information. It was last updated in April 2022.
Netflix gave Space Force a season 2 several months after it premiered. The first season was released back in May 2020 but a renewal didn’t come until November 2020. Season 2 was released on Netflix globally on February 18th, 2022.
Has Netflix Renewed Space Force for season 3?
Official Netflix Renewal Status: Officially Canceled on April 29th, 2022
Our Renewal Prediction: Likely cancelation
As of late April 2022, there was still no decision on the future of Space Force at Netflix as of April 28th according to Deadline. in an interview with Netflix’s head of comedy Tracey Pakosta. In the interview it stated:
“She [Pakosta] also admitted that it hasn’t made decisions on Steve Carrell’s Space Force or Will Arnett’s remake of Murderville.”
That was quickly updated one day later on Friday, April 29th with the news that Space Force was canceled and wouldn’t be returning for a season 3.
It was canceled even with the major cost cuts the show had. As you may know, season 2 moved its production to Vancouver from Los Angeles to save on costs and saw a shakeup in the writer’s room. It also saw its episode count reduced from 10 to 7.
The lower budget could suggest that season 1 didn’t quite meet expectations but rather than let the series go, it gave it another chance. Unless the show can do the numbers (more on this in a second) it’s unlikely we’ll see a third entry.
One bright spot for the series’ future is that review consensus for the second season seems to be a lot more favorable.
Rotten Tomatoes scores for Space Force
We should also note that two clips of Space Force season 2 went incredibly viral on TikTok. We’re referring to the “Fuck Microsoft” moment where John Malkovich expresses his disappointment that Microsoft chose a rather inconvenient time to do an auto-update.
Three of the most viral clips of that incident have amassed over 40 million views.
Space Force season 2 viral clips
How well did Space Force season 2 perform on Netflix?
As we stated above, what a third season renewal will come down to is viewership, and based on available data, it’s not looking great.
As a benchmark, season 1 managed to be watched by 40 million subscribers in its first month but sadly, we won’t be getting a comparable figure for this season. That’s because Netflix no longer providers numbers on how many subscribers watch.
Instead, we can look at Netflix’s Top 10 hourly data which points to the show not being able to muster the support it’d need for a third season.
The show was eligible to be included in the Top 10 charts between February 14th and February 20th (it was added to Netflix with two days remaining) but failed to clock over 11.04M hours viewed which was that week’s number 10 position.
In its first full week, it climbed to position number 8 with a disappointing 12.32M hours viewed. It then dropped out of the global top 10 soon after and hasn’t returned since.
| Week Period | Hours Viewed(M) | Rank | Week in Top 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| February 20th, 2022 to February 27th, 2022 | 12,320,000 | 8 | 1 |
Thanks to top 10 data provided by FlixPatrol we know that the series didn’t get off to the best of starts around the world. In the United States, the series entered the TV top 10 at number 5 for both its first and second day on the service. It was beaten out by the likes of Inventing Anna, Love is Blind, Sweet Magnolias, and The Cuphead Show!.
The show departed the Netflix US overall top 10s on February 25th and the TV top 10s on March 1st. The show appears in only a handful of other regions too.
Below, you can see which countries saw the show survive longest in the top 10s. It’s naturally popular in regions such as the United States and Canada but also performed well in Australia, some Eastern European countries, and Nordic regions.
Popularity map for Space Force Season 2
Nielsen’s top 10 streaming data doesn’t paint the rosiest picture either. It survived for two weeks in its top 10s failing to reach over 1,000 million minutes.
- 02/14 to 02/20 – #8 in Originals – 438 million minutes
- 02/21 to 02/27 – #7 in Originals – 534 million minutes
What we expected from Space Force Season 3
By the end of season 2, we find most of the characters in the same position as they were in going into the second season.
Most of the characters have opted to stick around at Space Force having now received their pay rises and the future of the branch of military secured.
Of course, season 2 ends on a cliffhanger in the form of a big asteroid hurtling towards the Earth (yes, the exact plot to Netflix’s Don’t Look Up). The crew all discover the asteroid thanks to the Hawaiin telescope coming online.
Once the astronauts, scientists and generals all spot the upcoming asteroid and come to terms with their impending doom they break out in song (singing Kokomo by The Beach Boys) which is a throwback to season 1.
We’ll be keeping this post updated over the next month as we await viewing stats for the new season and can more accurately predict if it’ll be returning for a third season.
Did you want to see Space Force return for season 3 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.
Netflix Synopsis: "A four-star general begrudgingly teams up with an eccentric scientist to get the U.S. military's newest agency -- Space Force -- ready for lift-off."
