Netflix’s ‘Top Secrets’ is the latest victim of the recent animated series onslaught

These are not good times for animated series lovers. Although the era of streaming has given us many jewels, lately it has been taking more than giving them to us, and Netflix, which has less and less qualms about hacking its series if they don’t meet its exacting expectations, has just snatched from us another animated series just when it got more interesting. It concerns ‘Ultrasecretos’ (‘Inside Job’), which will not have a second season.

But it’s not a cancellation to use, but an afterthought, which makes the decision even more painful for his fans. Netflix announced the renewal of the series for a second season last June, but ultimately decided to cancel it. It was confirmed by its creator, Shion Takeuchi (writer of the cult series ‘Gravity Falls’), with a tweet in response to rumors pointing to its abrupt end..

Sorry guys, is it true?#internal work pic.twitter.com/MQZJ3S7gRD

? Shion Takeuchi (@shhhhhionn) January 9, 2023

“It breaks my heart to confirm that Netflix has decided to cancel the second season of ‘Top Secrets'”writes Takeuchi in his statement. “Over the years, these characters have become real people to me, and I’m devastated that I won’t be able to see them grow up. Reagan and Brett deserved to have an end and find happiness. And I would have loved to share with you all what I had prepared”. The showrunner concludes his message with a message of thanks to the fans: “To everyone who has watched the series, thank you for joining us on this journey. While I am sad, it helps to know that there are people out there who have grown as fond of these characters as I have.”.

Often compared to ‘Rick and Morty’ and ‘Futurama’, ‘Top Secrets’ takes place in a world where conspiracy theories are real and focuses on a team from a secret US government organization tasked with keeping them secret as he tries to control the world The second part of the first season premiered in November 2022, leaving the series on a shocking cliffhanger that will not be resolved..

And the saddest thing is that “Top Secrets” is not the only animated series for adults that has been canceled in the last week despite having previously been renewed. “Pantheon”, an AMC Networks series whose production for its second installment had already ended, also fell. In his case, there is the possibility that the series could be sold on another platform, but this only underlines the worrying trend currently taking place on platforms in the US, where the desperation to lower costs is bringing animation from the series on some of the main victims of the massacre to streaming.

“Pantheon” also disappears from AMC in your country as part of savings strategy through tax deduction, the same practice that Warner Bros. has followed during its current restructuring with David Zaslav at the helm, and which led to the demise of a large number of HBO Max series, many of them animated: ‘Infinity Train’, ‘Close Enough’, ‘Uncle Grandpa’, ‘OK KO!? Let’s Be Heroes’ or ‘Mao Mao’, to name a few. And while it’s not a series, we can’t forget the sequel to ‘Scooby!’, which was canceled under the new management of Warner Bros. Discovery, with the film basically finished.

Something similar is happening to Netflix, which, faced with the subscriber crisis of 2022, made several decisions that ended up turning animation into its scapegoat, with significant cuts and layoffs in its animated division. This left projects canceled before their premiere, such as the long-awaited adaptation of ‘Bone’, ‘The Twits’, ‘Toil and Trouble’, ‘Pearl’ or ‘Dino Daycare’, to which ‘Bad Crimes’ was later added , which hasn’t even escaped the sieve thanks to the popularity of its creators, Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. To these are added other animation proposals aimed at adults also hidden under the carpet, such as ‘Comando Queer’ or ‘The Midnight Gospel’. And although it is further back, we must also remember the case of ‘Tuca & Bertie’, canceled by Netflix, rescued by Adult Swim and canceled for the second time.

Despite the slights, neither Netflix nor HBO Max have completely abandoned animation, of course. The first has hits like ‘Arcane’, which is preparing its second season (fingers crossed), or ‘Big Mouth’, which has a confirmed seventh season and a spin-off. The second has several projects in sight, such as “Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai” or “Velma”, the new adult spin-off of Mindy Kaling’s “Scooby Doo”. And we must add ‘Invincible on Prime Video, ‘Rick and Morty’ on HBO Max or ‘Solar Opposites’ on Disney+, which continue to be successful. But before the barrage of cancellations and frustrated plans, there are so many reasons not to take anything for granted and to believe that, in the current difficult market situation, Hollywood companies are burning animation to save themselves.

‘Big Mouth’ trend following cancellation

The news of the cancellation of ‘Top Secrets’ has sparked anger among fans of the series, who have not hesitated to express their disappointment and anger towards Netflix on social media. Indeed, Takeuchi’s tweet went viral and even led to ‘Big Mouth’ sneaking into Twitter trends in the US and Spain, due to complaints from those who feel it was unfair that Netflix has canceled ‘Top Secrets’, while the irreverent and controversial pre-teen comedy co-created by Nick Kroll has already had six seasons, with a seventh in I arrive.

There are 6 fucking seasons of Big mouth and they cancel Inside Job https://t.co/nuAEJgYDCB pic.twitter.com/CQiRUx87uU

? Lizz (@Kaijuwife) January 9, 2023

“There’s 6 fucking seasons of ‘Big Mouth’ and they’re canceling ‘Top Secrets'”.

They cancel what is probably their best animated series right now and meanwhile Big Mouth with 237327 seasons https://t.co/tr3TQENhy9

? Clear?? (@Majima_Kensetsu) January 9, 2023

As we mentioned earlier, Takeuchi’s statement is in response to cancellation rumors started by another ‘Top Secrets’ writer, Chase Mitchell, who previously shared several tweets hinting at Netflix’s tough decision. Although Mitchell deleted the tweets, several trade publications, such as MovieWeb, have echoed their content, in the one where the writer allegedly criticized Netflix without quoting him. In one of the tweets, Mitchell said the following: “I don’t know if I’m allowed to say this, but honestly, that streaming platform doesn’t care about animation anymore, so what the fuck does it matter”.