‘Cruel’: How Netflix axed Drew Barrymore’s hit show Santa Clarita Diet

The popular Netflix "zomcom" Santa Clarita Diet, starred Drew Barrymore as a human flesh-eating zombie, and Timothy Olyphant as her husband who helps conceal her appetite. Photo / Netflix

The creator of one of Netflix’s most popular cult hits has revealed the shocking way he was told his show had been axed.

Airing from 2017 to 2019, Santa Clarita Diet was a much-loved horror comedy series with a dedicated following.

The Netflix “zomcom” starred Drew Barrymore as a real estate agent who turns into a zombie, and Timothy Olyphant as her husband, attempting to conceal her appetite for human flesh.

Despite having a vocal fanbase and starring one of the biggest stars in the world, Netflix refused to bring the show back for a fourth and final season.

The show’s creator, Victor Fresco, who was also responsible for Mad Men, has revealed in a new interview the wild way he found out the show had been axed.

It turns out no one at Netflix bothered to tell him, instead he learned of the show’s fate when his assistant told him that the sets from the series were being dismantled.

“That’s how I heard it was definitively not coming back,” he told The Guardian.

“Damn, they couldn’t even send a text!” commented one angry fan on Reddit.

“Damn that’s cruel, I actually loved that show,” remarked another.

Heartbreakingly, the show ended on a huge cliffhanger that was never answered and five years after its cancellation fans are still angry with Netflix as a result.

“We had an inkling it might not come into a fourth year,” shared the creator, going on to reveal that they purposefully ended the season with a cliffhanger in a bid to force Netflix’s hand to renew the show.

“We didn’t want to make it easier for them to cancel us. We thought ‘Why are we doing their work for them?’”

He went on to share that he soon realised that “you really have, at best, a three-year run” unless your show is a “monster hit” like Stranger Things.

He explained that it comes down to the contracts Netflix has all its stars sign, which allegedly includes a series of in-built bonuses that are owed if more than three seasons are ordered.

“If you look closely at your deal, you’ll see that there’s a huge disincentive for them to order seasons four and five because they’re really making a big payout then.”