In a surprising move, Netflix has opted not to bring back Santa Clarita Diet, the dark comedy starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, despite stellar reviews and various Top 10 binge/streaming rankings over the past month. According to Deadline, fans of the show are petitioning for a Season 4 via #SaveSantaClaritaDiet on Twitter. Season 3 premiered on March 29.
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The reason for the cancellation wasn’t given. though the trade notes that a number of recent Netflix cancellations, such as One Day at a Time, Travelers, Love, Bloodline, Hemlock Grove and Marvel’s Daredevil, all of which were cancelled after three seasons, had gotten too expensive for the streaming service to produce.
“The world had never known a ‘zom-com’ until Santa Clarita Diet, and we’re indebted to creator Victor Fresco for bringing this idea to Netflix,” the streaming service said in a statement. “To their endless credit, the incredible Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant were totally game, with an uncanny knack for comedy that brought Sheila and Joel Hammond to vibrant life, even though one of them was undead.”
Added Olyphant: “I loved working on this show,” he said. “I’m going to continue coming in and doing scenes. If they don’t want to film it, that’s up to them.”
Barrymore stated that the character of Sheila Hammond is one of her favorites. “She and Joel were an amazing couple, who had shared goals. And i am lucky to have worked along side Tim Olyphant. It was an honor to get to do something so delightful. Sheila lives forever in me. And I am grateful to Victor Fresco, who created a world so unique.”
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In Santa Clarita Diet‘s first season, Joel (Timothy Olyphant) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore) Hammond are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction… but in a good way.
The second season found the Hammonds trying to adapt to Sheila’s now-advanced undead state — even though she’s desperately working to hold on to her suburban lifestyle and not be defined as just another monster. Unfortunately — while the family had become markedly better at murder — the number of missing people in Santa Clarita is starting to pile up and it’s no longer going unnoticed.
Season 3 has the couple facing the possibility of eternity together (or apart) as Joel has to decide if he wants to become undead like his wife so they can remain together forever.
Santa Clarita Diet also stars Liv Hewson (Dramaworld) as Abby Hammond and Skylar Gisondo (Vacation) as Eric Bemis. The series comes from showrunner Victor Fresco.
