Netflix: Locke & Key renewed for Season 2, Messiah, V-Wars and October Faction cancelled

While Locke & Key, the adaptation of Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez’s comic books, managed to convince Netflix to grant a second season, that is not the case with V-Wars and October Faction, two other series based on comic books. On the other hand, Messiah is said to have been cancelled because of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to Tomer Sisley. Let’s take a look.

Locke & Key will be back on Netflix soon

The Locke family will continue to discover the power of the keys at the heart of their ancestral home. In fact, the Locke & Key series, inspired by the eponymous comic books, has officially been renewed by Netflix for a second season.

In a statement, Carlton Cuse and Meredith Averill, co-creators of the series, said: “We are thrilled to be continuing the journey of Locke and Key alongside all of our amazing collaborators. We are grateful to Netflix for all their support, especially at this difficult time, and look forward to bringing you the exciting next chapter of our story.”

For its part, Netflix, represented by Brian Wright, vice president of the platform’s original series, stated that “Locke and Key captivated audiences around the world at every twist and turn. We are so proud to have been part of this show and can’t wait to see all that Carlton Cuse, Meredith Averill, and the entire creative team have in store for season two.”

While the number of episodes is not yet known, this follow-up should allow the children of the Locke family to fully embrace their role as key keepers. The cast included Darby Stanchfield, Connor Jessup, Emilia Jones, Jackson Robert Scott, Genevieve Kang, Sherri Saum and Petrice Jones.

V-Wars and October Faction cancelled after one season

V-Wars and October Faction, two series also based on comic books, failed to convince Netflix to invest in a second season. As a reminder, Netflix bases its cancellation and renewal decisions on its internal data, in particular on the number of subscribers that watch the whole season within the first four weeks of its release and the number of people that join the platform to discover a particular series. It must therefore be assumed that these indicators were not adequate for the streaming giant.

For those unfamiliar with these two series, V-Wars (Ian Somerhalder) follows Dr. Luther Swann, a scientist who enters a world of indescribable horror when a mysterious illness transforms his best friend, Fayne (Adrian Holmes), into a murderous predator who feeds on other humans. As the disease spreads and an increasing number of people are transformed, society splits in two and confronts normal people with a growing number of vampires. Swann will race against time to understand what is happening and find a cure while Fayne becomes the leader of the vampires. The cast included Jacky Lai, Kimberly-Sue Murray, Kyle Breitkopf, Laura Vandervoort, Sydney Meyer and Michael Greyeyes.

On the other hand, October Faction focuses on Fred (J.C. MacKenzie) and Deloris Allen (Aurora Burghart), monster hunters who return to their hometown after the death of Fred’s father. They then decide to stay there with their children, Geoff (Garbiel Darku) and Viv (Aurora Burghart), who have no idea of the true nature of their profession. But they, who had longed for a more quiet life, will soon realize that there is nothing idyllic about this town and they will have to fight new dark forces. The cast of this eight-episode series features Maxim Roy, Stephen McHattie, Megan Follows, Michelle Nolden, Sara Waisglass and Wendy Crewson.

Messiah canceled because of the coronavirus outbreak?

As far as Messiah is concerned, the cancellation of the series was not due to insufficient audiences but to health reasons. As Tomer Sisley revealed it on his Instagram account, the second season of Messiah should have been shot in Rome this summer but the current context prevented the production of new episodes and Netflix had therefore decided to cancel the series. Tomer Sisley took advantage of his message on Instagram to thank the fans of the series: “Thank you for your support, thank you for your letters, thank you for your passion. I had a blast interpreting this part. Aviram will stay with me for very long. Thank you for your love.”

The Messiah series, consisting of 10 episodes, featured Michelle Monaghan, Mehdi Dehbi, John Ortiz, Tomer Sisley, Melinda Page Hamilton, Stefania LaVie Owen, Sayyid El Alami and Jane Adams.