The show’s wrestling scenes reportedly involved too much physical contact to film it safely
Netflix’s acclaimed wrestling comedy-drama GLOW will not be coming back for a fourth season.
The streaming giant had renewed the show for a final fourth season last year, but now that will not be happening due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
“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,” a Netflix spokesperson told Deadline.
“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.”
“COVID has killed actual humans. It’s a national tragedy and should be our focus. COVID also apparently took down our show,” series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch told Deadline in a joint statement.
“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.”
FIlming of the fourth season of GLOW had started earlier this year, but it was shut down in March due to the pandemic. One episode had reportedly been completed.
While many film and televisions productions have struggled to get back underway, GLOW has faced some very specific challanges that have contributed to the decision to end the show.
According to Deadline, the physical contact required filming GLOW – this is a show about professional wrestling, after all – meant that it was difficult to make the show safely while still sticking to COVID precautions. Deadline point to “physical contact, heavy breathing and exertion” in particular elements that need to be avoaided.
Interestingly, several actual professional wrestling companies, including WWE, have continued to produce content throughout the pandemic.
GLOW is based on the real-life Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling promotion from the 1980s.
