Spinning Out, the teen ice skating drama starring Kaya Scodelario got canceled after its first season on Netflix. This left the show on a cliffhanger with many storylines unresolved. While certain factors led to its cancelation, the show was in its infancy and could’ve used another season to come into itself.
Spinning Out follows the story of Kat Baker, a competitive figure skater who suffered from a dangerous fall that almost ended her skating career. She is then presented with a unique opportunity to continue as a pairs skater with bad boy Justin Davis. Kat now not only has to work through her PTSD, which developed from her fall, but she has to try and keep the secret that she is bipolar. Throughout the series, she balances working as a waitress, taking care of her mental health and skating every day to make her dreams of going to the Olympics come true. The Season 1 finale ended at a crucial point in the series, and with its cancelation, there is no way of knowing what would have happened next.
Why was Spinning Out Canceled?
While Spinning Out did develop a strong fan base, it seems that they did not make up enough numbers in order for Netflix to justify ordering another season. This is based on Netflix’s model of evaluating data after one month of viewership. It also received a 59 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, suggesting that Netflix also took the show’s critical acclaim into account when making its decision.
However, IMDb did have a higher rating at 76 percent which shows that audiences were more drawn to the 10-episode series than critics. There was a petition to have the show renewed on Change.org, but it is unlikely that this will happen over two years since Season 1 was released in January 2020.
Did Spinning Out Need a Second Season on Netflix?
Spinning Out ended on quite the cliffhanger, with many storylines and characters arc left unfinished. While the show did have a number of issues that may have driven some viewers away, there were a lot of positives that that justified another season. One of the main criticisms often made against the series was that it was overly dramatic. However, it is the teen drama mixed with ice skating’s hyper-competitiveness that created an addictive show.
In the last episode, Kat and Justin have finally reconciled after Kat revealed that she is bipolar to him and the rest of their friends. They are now standing together on the ice, waiting to perform their final program in the hopes of achieving their Olympic dreams, and that is where it ends. This is the pivotal moment the show was building towards. While it would’ve made a great cliffhanger to be resolved in another season, this did not end up being the case. With the cancelation that soon followed, many fans were left shocked and angry that they would never know the fate of Kat and Justin.
It seems that showrunners were fully expecting to have a second season to address any lingering questions. Kat and Justin, however, weren’t the only ones to have unfinished storylines. There were still questions about what happened with certain characters, especially with Serena (Kat’s younger sister) and Carol (their mother). One of the more successful aspects of the series was that it was very character-driven. While some of the representation and character portrayals were problematic, a second season could’ve corrected these while also cleaning up the central arcs left over in the finale.