Netflix now has a wide variety of dark comedies and animated shows for adults, and one of its best deserved way more than just one season. Over the years, Netflix has built a catalog of movies and TV shows that cover various genres and styles, and which are also aimed at different target audiences. When it comes to animated content, Netflix has a lot of family-friendly content as well as titles aimed exclusively at children, but it also has animated stories for a more mature audience.

Netflix has found great success with its adult animated shows, even though it has obviously seen some not-so-great projects. Among The Midnight Gospel, which, despite its success, was canceled after just one season.

The Midnight Gospel Was Unlike Netflix's Other Animated Shows

The Midnight Gospel Stood Out

Created by Pendleton Ward and Duncan Trussell, The Midnight Gospel is based on episodes from Trussell’s podcast The Duncan Trussell Family Hour. The Midnight Gospel is set in a dimension known as the Chromatic Ribbon, and it follows Clancy Gilroy (voiced by Trussell), a spacecaster who owns an unlicensed multiverse simulator. Thanks to it, Clancy travels through different and bizarre worlds that are facing disaster, and interviews some of their residents. Clancy visits a new planet in each episode, returning to his planet at the end.

Clancy’s interviews are based on those from Trussell’s podcast, with real audio sampled from them with a couple of additions. What made The Midnight Gospel different from the rest of Netflix’s adult animated series was not only its trippy animation style, but also the topics addressed in it (which were part of the podcast). The Midnight Gospel dealt with philosophy, spirituality, existentialism, magic, and transcendence, as well as recreational substance use, different perspectives on death, forgiveness, love, family, the life cycle, and more.

As weird as the animation might be sometimes, it complements the dialogue and topics covered in the interview, sometimes very directly and others in more symbolic ways. This way, each episode of The Midnight Gospel is an immersive experience, leaving the audience with a lot to think about various topics.

Why The Midnight Gospel Was Canceled After 1 Season

The Midnight Gospel Is Eight Episodes Long

The Midnight Gospel was very well-received by critics, and currently holds a 91% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes with an 89% popcornmeter score. The Midnight Gospel was praised for its animation, insight, topics, originality, and overall quality, with the final episode, “Mouse of Silver”, getting the most praise. However, despite its success and positive reception from critics and general audiences, The Midnight Gospel was canceled after just one season. Although a reason wasn’t given when the show’s cancellation was announced, Trussell later opened up about it.

The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation arrived at a time when Netflix was going through financial trouble.

Speaking to Trussell shared that The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation was all about business, as animation is expensive, and the show didn’t build a big enough fanbase to justify producing more episodes (although, to be fair, it takes more than one season to build a strong fanbase). According to AdWeek, The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation arrived at a time when Netflix was going through financial trouble and various animated projects were canceled, such as Centaurworld and The Twits.

Netflix Hasn’t Done Anything Like The Midnight Gospel Again

Netflix Has Many Adult Animated Shows, But None Like The Midnight Gospel

Unfortunately, The Midnight Gospel hasn’t gotten a second season, and it most likely won’t in the future, but Netflix hasn’t done anything like it again. At the time of The Midnight Gospel’s cancellation, Netflix had Big Mouth, Castlevania, Final Space, Disenchantment, and Love, Death & Robots, among others, and while they covered different genres and some addressed serious topics, none have gone on a deeper, philosophical, trippier route like The Midnight Gospel (although Love, Death & Robots has gotten very close to it).

The Midnight Gospel had a lot of potential, and had it gotten more seasons, it surely would have expanded its horizons in of topics and animation, giving the audience a different experience with each episode. It’s to be seen if Netflix will do something like The Midnight Gospel again, but Trussell’s show deserved a lot more than just eight episodes.

Sources: Inverse, AdWeek.