Unfortunately, it seems as though The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling won't be returning to our lives. The Netflix series followed Ruth Wilder (Alison Brie), an out-of-work struggling actress in 1980s Los Angeles who finds one last chance for stardom when she enters the glitter and spandex world of women's wrestling. Netflix had renewed the series for a fourth and final season, but Deadline has now reported that the streaming giant has reversed its decision due to the COVID-19 shutdown. In a statement, series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch
COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show. Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW. We were handed the creative freedom to make a complicated comedy about women and tell their stories. And wrestle. And now that’s gone. There’s a lot of sh*tty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don’t get to see these 15 women in a frame together again.
"We’ll miss our cast of weirdo clowns and our heroic crew. It was the best job," Flahive and Mensch said, adding "Register to vote. And please vote." Production on the fourth and final season of GLOW had been underway for several weeks when it was forced to shut down earlier this year due to COVID-19, and despite efforts to get things up and running again, they just couldn't find a way to do it while also adhering to COVID-19 safety protocols. The series is also rather expensive to produce, and Netflix estimated that the earliest the series could return to screens would be in 2022, close to three years after the last season was released. Combined with the sizable delay and increased costs, Netflix reportedly didn't think that a big enough audience would still be there to justify the cost. In their own statement, a Netflix spokesperson said, "We’ve made the difficult decision not to do a fourth season of GLOW due to COVID, which makes shooting this physically intimate show with its large ensemble cast especially challenging. We are so grateful to creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, Jenji Kohan and all the writers, cast and crew for sharing this story about the incredible women of GLOW with us and the world."
Are you sad to see GLOW come to an end prematurely?