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In 2015, “Bloodline” was at the end of the Duties of the original Netflix shows on the top shelf (such as “House of Cards” and “Orange is the New Black”) which mainly made the streaming service to impress and grab spectators. The first season was fresh and gripping, offering the kind of slow burning family drama set in the stunning florida keys that felt special at the time. He was not, perhaps, so prestigious or worthy of the creators of Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman had hoped, but his quality was evident there with other unique Netflix. At the same time, his harrowing and emotional tiered story in the season 1 also had a limited series feeling, rather than something that could go on for years – despite the creators claiming that they always plan to be a show with five or six seasons that could be.
Along with many other viewers, I really enjoyed the 2015 Freshman season, but I was surprised to hear that the show had been refurbished for another year (and then another) because, at the heart of it, the plot was actually a one-trick pony. And that trick struck like a truck in a shocking turn towards the end of those 13 initial episodes, but when they ended, there wasn’t much left to go on.
“Bloodline” seasons 2 and 3 were not nearly as deep and biting nailsAnd many critics immediately sensed that something essential had been lost along the way. The cast and performances were still lofty, but the material they had to work was not. Overall, that must have affected streaming numbers (although it is difficult to say for sure since then Netflix viewers’ metrics are very skeptical), which must have made it difficult to justify the cost of producing the show year on year.
The blood line was too expensive and not lively enough to maintain
No matter how you look at it, no doubt “bloodline” was not at the same level of buzz and popularity as other Netflix originals that ran at about the same time, as Dear “strangers” or the controversial “13 reasons why.” But since it was mainly shot on location, production costs were still quite high. According to interview the fellow creator Todd A. Kessler once gave Hollywood reporterThe show’s creative people cut costs on the first two seasons thanks to an entertainment tax incentive program in Florida. For season 3, however, that was no longer the case. As Kessler explained:
“We decided to put the show there (Florida Keys) … because it’s essential to what the show is, not because of the tax incentive, but it affects things financially for us, and the show will be challenged because of it. It makes things harder.”
According to VultureNetflix paid Sony Pictures TV between $ 7 and $ 8.5 million per hour episode to produce the show, which meant that season 10 episodes would have cost between $ 70 and $ 85 million to the streaming giant. With the tax credits no longer a practical option to reduce costs (as they were during the first two seasons), Netflix made the call that “bloodline” was not financially rewarding to keep it going. Therefore, the final season shortened from 13 to 10 episodes and announced canceling the series in 2016.
Although it was a quite surprising move at the time (Netflix was expanding its list of original programs back then), it was not completely out of nowhere. In fact, if you look at most of the reviews and the views of season 3 viewers (which were quite poor), Netflix’s decision, from a creative and financial point of view, seems to be more than just.
