Netflix has quietly cancelled its anime series Terminator Zero after just one season, creator Mattson Tomlin has revealed. Despite strong critical reception, the show failed to attract enough viewers to justify a second season.
Tomlin shared the news on social media platform X, writing: “It was cancelled. The critical and audience reception to it was tremendous, but at the end of the day not nearly enough people watched it.” He added that he had planned a five-season arc and had already written all of season two's scripts and outlined season three.
The series, set in the Terminator universe, followed Malcolm Lee in 1997 as he developed an artificial intelligence system while being hunted by an assassin from the future. Tomlin noted that Netflix offered him the chance to produce a final two or three episodes to wrap up the story, but he declined, feeling the narrative needed a longer run.
Despite the cancellation, Tomlin expressed no ill will toward the streaming service, calling them “good partners” who granted him substantial creative freedom. He left open the possibility of returning to the world in a different form in the future.
