Netflix’s slate of animated series has grown a little smaller once more with the cancelation of Q-Force.
Q-Force, or Queer Force to give its full title, followed a group of LGBTQ superspies – led by Steve Marywhether, better known as Agent Mary, a James Bond-esque figure – as they try to prove themselves to their colleagues and government.
One day, Mary takes the decision to prove himself to his employers, the American Intelligence Agency, and presents a case for his team to solve. The agency approve, but there’s one catch – Q-Force must add a new member to their team, i.e. a straight guy.
The 10-episode series, which debuted in September 2021, had a starry voice cast, with Steve Hayes, best known for his role as Jack on Will and Grace, voicing Agent Mary. Stranger Things‘ David Harbour, The Good Fight‘s Gary Cole and Brooklyn Nine Nine‘s Stephanie Beatriz among the rest of the voice cast.
The news of Q-Force’s cancelation actually came last month, but was recently uncovered by What’s On Netflix (opens in new tab) who reported that Matt Rogers, one of the show’s writers and voice actors, revealed that “it did not get a second season” while speaking on the Attitudes! podcast (opens in new tab) back in May. All of which means it’s yet another Netflix cancelation.
Q-Force joins a slew of recent Netflix animated cancelations, with both Midnight Gospel and Adventure Beast both being axed in recent times. Netflix’s commitment to animated projects is clearly on the wane, too, with Director of Creative Leadership and Development for Original Animation, Phil Rynda, leaving the company at the end of April. Since then, it has been a bloodbath for planned and current projects.
Roald Dahl’s The Twits, which had been announced with great fanfare, was axed, as were new series based on Jeff Smith’s beloved comic book series Bone, Lauren Faust’s Toil and Trouble and Wings Of Fire, which was being overseen by Selma’s Ava DuVernay. Meghan Markle’s animated epic Pearl, the first offering from Netflix’s hugely-expensive team-up with the Duchess, also got canned.
As well as that, the streamer decided to shelve more education-orientated animated programming with Antiracist Baby, an animated series aimed at very young children, and With Kind Regards From Kindergarten, which was a movie pointed towards the same demographic. Both projects were canceled before they left development.
Why was Q-Force canceled?
Well, for one thing, when the show’s first trailer first aired, it came in for a lot of criticism around its perceived stereotypical portrayals of the LGBQT+ community and a number of petitions were started to cancel the show before it even aired.
Critics didn’t take to it either, with a 29% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Reviewers criticised Q-Force for being lazy, dated and unfunny, which will not have helped its cause. Though. it is worth saying that the audience score for Q-Force is 78%, so it must have found an audience somewhere.
But, with Netflix still in belt-tightening mode, the poor reviews and controversial start Q-Force enjoyed will not have helped its case for a second season. As with everything Netflix cancels, its audience must simply not have been big enough.
Catch-up on everything Netflix has canceled in 2022 in our helpful guide.