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This year undoubtedly brought us some great new television, with shows such as Shadow and Bone, Hawkeye, True Story, Only Murders In The Building and more making their debut. However, we may have lost just as many TV treasures as we gained. Thats right: 2021 robbed us of some of our favorite series!
Whether it was after one season or ten, seeing the end of a beloved series is sad, to say the least. The list of hit shows that saw their last episode in 2021 is extensive with series like Rebel, For Life, Pose, Manifest, Cowboy Bebop and more taking their final bow.
But that said? Some cancellations hurt more than others. So let’s take a look at the 2021 show cancellations that left our team here at Decider shook.
'Everything's Gonna Be Okay'
Everything’s Gonna Be Okay was a poignant comedy that had the uncanny ability to make you feel deeply and laugh heartily. Bursting with heart and originality, Josh Thomas’ evocative Freeform series followed Nicholas (Thomas), a neurotic twenty-something who gains custody of his two half-sisters after their father’s untimely death. Incisive writing and truly enchanting performances by Maeve Press, Kayla Cromer, Adam Faison, and Thomas combined to make Everything’s Gonna Be Okay a charming, feel-good show with heart and charisma to spare. Thankfully, both seasons are available to stream on Hulu. — Josh Sorokach
'Y: The Last Man'
Canceling Y: The Last Man after only one season is a television crime. There, I said it. Yes, the first couple of episodes of Eliza Clark’s adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra’s comic book were a bit too apocalypse heavy for a show that premiered during an actual pandemic. But Y:The Last Man was the rare show that got better with every episode.
You could feel Yorick’s (Ben Schnetzer) shoulders sagging as he embraced the responsibility that came with being the last man with a Y chromosome. You could feel the strains of love and friendship between the selfish Hero (Olivia Thirlby) and the endlessly kind Sam (Elliot Fletcher). And then there was Ashley Romans’ Agent 335 and Diana Bang’s Dr. Allison Mann, two performances that were so effortlessly cool and interesting, they made TV in 2021 brighter. If the truly excellent finale of Y:The Last Man proves anything, it’s that this show could have been something extraordinary if it was given another season. Fingers crossed some network that isn’t FX on Hulu feels the same way. — Kayla Cobb
'Dash & Lily'
Netflix’s Dash & Lily was one of the few true delights of the holiday season. A Christmas rom-com without the cringe, Dash & Lily followed two lonely New York City teens as they fell in love in a most unusual way. The two kids trade dares and confessions in a holly red notebook they trade all over New York City’s most beloved locations.
Dash & Lily Season 1 ended on a beautifully magic holiday kiss, but the series itself was ignobly killed by Netflix in 2021. It’s a bitter injustice for those of us who fell in love with Dash and Lily and wanted to see more of their romance in the years to come. — Meghan O’Keefe
'Lost In Space'
Damn Netflix’s 3-season curse! The streaming giant pulls the plug on too many shows after 3 seasons, and Lost In Space is now sadly one of them. And that’s a shame, because if any series was truly built to last, it’s Lost in Space.
The show started strong with a breakneck first season that adapted the original series’ campy adventures for modern audiences and then it got even better in Season 2. The just-released third season continued the show’s upward momentum as it fleshed out a mythology, expanded the universe, and still delivered all the scrappy Robinson family feels we’ve come to love. We’ll miss Lost in Space and all the strange worlds they’ll never visit , but mostly we’ll miss this stellar cast and Robot, Netflix’s most unlikely thirst trap. — Brett White
'The Bold Type'
Freeform’s The Bold Type officially saw its last season in 2021…BRB crying. This show, which first premiered back in 2017, followed the stylish and smart trio of Kat, Sutton and Jane as they began their big city careers at Scarlett Magazine . Everything about this series, from its killer wardrobe to its wide variety of diverse relationships was on point.
Sadly, season 5 was the last we will see of the show, as the series was canceled by Freeform earlier this year. Although each of the main characters stories comes to a somewhat natural end in the finale, I think we all could have used some more of The Bold Type. — Camran Shealy
'Genera+ion'
HBO has been offering up teen series after teen series, from Euphoria to We Are Who We Are and Gossip Girl to Genera+ion. Unfortunately, 2021 brought us the first coming-of-age casualty with the debut and premature cancellation of Genera+ion, which was an enthralling look at LGBTQ+ teens living it up in high school. Sure, it wasn’t all that realistic — is a mall bathroom birth possible? — but we loved it anyway. Here’s hoping 2022 sees the continuation of all the other great teen series HBO has to offer. — Fletcher Peters
'Superstore'
Despite years of consistently smart, character-driven comedy, Superstore never achieved the same level of popularity as other NBC comedy hits like Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. It wasn’t a surprise, therefore, when NBC announced that this workplace sitcom about a team of megastore employees would come to end after its sixth season. But it was still a blow. We already miss having a guaranteed laugh on Thursday nights.
Superstore’s ability to turn pressing real-life issues—workers’ rights, the pandemic, and income inequality, to name a few—into hilarious, heartwarming, 30-minute stories was nothing short of genius. One can only hope that future generations will continue to discover this wonderful series for many years to come. — Anna Menta
'Shrill'
Over the course of three seasons, Saturday Night Live star Aidy Bryant adapted Lindy West’s viral article “Hello, I Am Fat” into a fresh, casually radical comedy that laughs in the face of fatphobia. In telling the story of 30-something journalist Annie (Bryant), Shrill managed to both spotlight the ways in which fatness is constantly politicized and treated its fat protagonist’s messy self-discovery with the empathy she deserved. We had to say goodbye to the Hulu series too soon, but hey — we’ll always have the pool party episode. — Abby Monteil
