It used to be that The CW was where shows went if they wanted to live forever but now that is not the case. In the Dark faced the brunt of a merger and got canceled, meaning fans will not get a Season 5 unless it’s saved elsewhere.
The channel, owned by CBS Entertainment Group (part of Paramount Global) and Warner Bros. Entertainment (part of Warner Bros. Discovery), put less of a premium on raw viewing figures than elsewhere and often renewed its entire slate irrespective of how many people were watching the individual shows. However, with The CW having been sold, that means major shake-ups in terms of operation, so the network has radically stripped down its slate. In the Dark looked bleak even before its fourth season premiere.
In the Dark Season 5 Canceled Due to Merger
The CW already put the nail in the show’s coffin ahead of its fourth season, and it joins a long — and increasing — list of cancelations on the network, including Charmed, Dynasty, Tom Swift, and even better-known shows like Batwoman. This is mainly due to a merger with Warner Bros. Entertainment.
Some might be curious about the potential of renewal if fourth-season viewership were to spike magically, or if some other crucial indicator of popularity, such as social media traction, were to indicate that there was still an ardent fanbase. However, no such luck. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that we’ve seen the last of this one.
Fans will be dismayed of course, especially when the show had plans for multiple ends. An interview with Nerds and Beyond showed that there was definitely a unique path that Season 5 would have followed – Perry Mattfeld said:
“I think our season 5 would have been interesting to see where Murphy does go. Does she care if she gets caught? Is she just gonna run away with Felix and see how long they can hide and kind of, you know, would we have seen her in a completely different place, would she just be alone? I don’t know. There’s so many ways that could have gone. I think I can say, this is just my opinion, but that most of our fans will feel happy and justified and proud of Murphy for getting some revenge after everything she’s had to go through over the last four seasons.”
