Why Did Daybreak Get Canceled & What Do We Know About The Season 2 Plans?
Anyone who's ever become a devoted fan of a series on Netflix knows that outside the big "Stranger Things" or "Ozark" level hits, short runs of just a season or two are the norm. The platform tends to favor shorter runs in order to keep binge-hungry new viewers and subscribers from being scared off by high season counts, but the downside is that shows can get canceled by Netflix before their time. Shows like, for instance, the post-apocalyptic comedy "Daybreak," which was canceled in late 2019 after a single season.
As this Business Insider story on the cancellation states, Netflix never made an announcement as to why "Daybreak" specifically was canceled, but presumably, it had to do with a combination of low viewership numbers and its aforementioned general preference for keeping shows short.
That's sad news if you were one of the people who enjoyed "Daybreak" Season 1, but there are a few tidbits out there about what a Season 2 might have been like for you to chew over.
Show creator Aron Eli Coleite revealed that Season 2 would have had a wider scope
Fans can only imagine what "Daybreak" Season 2 would have been like, but they do have some details to base those imaginings on, courtesy of series creator and showrunner Aron Eli Coleite. In a Polygon interview from before the series got canceled, Coleite revealed that the distinctive Glendale setting from Season 1 would have likely been expanded to include more of the post-apocalyptic landscape.
"In Season 1 we're looking through a keyhole and seeing a little slice of Glendale. In Season 2, we would open the door a crack and be able to see a little bit more," said Coleite. "I think what we want to be able to do is open the aperture just wider and wider until we can see more and more of not only Los Angeles, which there's so much to explore, but the world."
Coleite also went into some detail about the show's protagonists Josh Wheeler (Colin Ford) and Sam Dean (Sophie Simnett) and where their arcs might have taken them in a second season.
Coleite said that Josh and Sam would have 'gone their separate ways' after their shared adventure
Season 1 of "Daybreak" ends with Josh (Colin Ford) and Sam (Sophie Simnett) at odds with each other, a decision that created controversy and heartbreak among the show's fans. And if you read Aron Eli Coleite's comments to Polygon, you'll see that those differences were not likely to be easily revolved in a hypothetical Season 2. "One of the original very, very first things that we knew about the season was Josh was going to spend a whole season trying to get the Sam," Coleite said. "They were going to defeat Baron Triumph together, and then they would go their separate ways because she would not want to return with him and she would want to lead the jocks."
The plans for Season 2 aren't very detailed, and it seems from Coleite's remarks that it was going to be more about the continuing journeys of the characters rather than about answering fans' burning questions. "We do want to answer some questions or at least give theories as to why things have happened and we'll continue giving that out," Coleite said. "But we realized really early on that's not what the show was about... It's really about building a sandbox for all these different characters to exist in."
Now, of course, that sandbox was never built, and "Daybreak" survives only in its first and only season on Netflix — as well as the graphic novel it's based on.