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Sophomore Contraction: Why So Many Popular Streaming Series Produced Fewer Episodes In Season 2
Reasons vary as to why several popular streaming series such as The Diplomat and Xo Kitty are coming back with fewer episodes in their second seasons.
While that is not that big of an issue for long-running hits such as Netflix’s Stranger Things or a global phenomenon like the streamer’s Squid Game, for promising newcomers with serialized storytelling, a lengthy hiatus could be detrimental amid a fast-moving pipeline of new content vying for viewers’ attention. And then there are the budgetary concerns which are factoring into pickup decisions amid an industry-wide belt tightening, with streamers looking to trim costs even on their most popular series, with a reduced episode order among the options. The decision was made by series co-creators/executive producers Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann who explained to Deadline earlier this year that mapping out the story material from Part II of the game across seasons, “the natural breakpoint felt like it came after seven episodes.”
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