In December 2024, Squid Game’s second season launched on Netflix. That’s three years after the first was released in 2021, where gambling addict Gi-hun enters a tournament with deadly stakes in order to escape financial hardship. Now, he returns to the squid game to end it for good. In the previous month and on the same platform, the second seasonseason 2 of animated steampunk drama Arcane was released, again three years afterfollowing the first season in 2021. These are far from the only shows to have a gap of at least two years between seasons. In fact, it is becoming somewhat of a trend in the age of streaming to stretch out a drama’s run with long hiatuses.
During the days where broadcast TV ruled, the gaps were short, – usually between four to six months for shows airing on major US networks, – with some seasons airing a year after the previous one. The last five years, however, has seen a shift, and not just on streaming. ;
Tthe eighth and final season of HBO’s Game of Thrones aired two years after the seventh, while Euphoria’s second season aired three years after the first (if you discount the specials). Production onf the third season of Zendaya-starring teen drama began in January 2025. Similarly, Stranger Things’ fifth and final season will see a release this year, three years after the fourth season, which was also launched three years after the third. Meanwhile in the UK, there was a seven-year gap between the second and third seasons of crime drama Happy Valley, following two years between the first and second. Sherlock had a shorter gap of three years (2014 to 2017) for its last two seasons, with a New Year special airing in 2016.
There are several reasons why new seasons of TV shows are being released with a gap of two years minimum. From industry strikes stalling production to the COVID-19 pandemic, achieving the highest quality for the work and production costs and actor schedules, here are some of the reasons why TV viewers are finding themselves waiting longer for new seasons compared to those in previous decades.
Pandemics and industry strikes
As you know, the COVID-19 pandemic brought a standstill to television production worldwide, shutting down film sets and confining casts and crew to their homes. When restrictions began to lift months later, filming resumed for some productions, albeit with various adjustments (such as face masks, creating social bubbles and even rewriting scripts). As a result of filming being delayed, the premieres of news seasons would be delayed, while some shows like GLOW and The Society were outright cancelled despite filming new episodes just before the lockdowns, with executives citing issues relating to budgets and scheduling issues.
For instance, the Donald Glover-fronted FX show Atlanta was renewed for a third season in 2018, with filming for this season, and later, the fourth – set to begin the following year, only to be pushed back to 2020, with a targeted release in 2021. Of course, the pandemic meant that the cast and crew were unable to start filming until April 2021, and the seasons premiered on 24th March 2022 and 15th September 2022, respectively.
Then, in 2023, the members of the WGA (Writers’ Guild of America) would go on strike, partly in response to the proposed use of artificial intelligence to write scripts. They would be joined by acting union SAG-AFTRA, who protested against the use of AI to recreate an actor’s likeness . As a result of the lack of workers, many dramatic shows had their season premieres delayed, such as 61st Street (season two, two years after the first), The Boys (season four, also released two years after the preceding season), Euphoria and Chicago Med (season nine, two years after season eight). We thus had to wait longer than expected to see our favourite shows and characters return to our screens. But what about when you take these delays out of the picture?
Production costs and processes
As streaming services grow and creatives become more experimental with their storytelling, they need time to develop and execute their grand and ambitious visions, especially in light of the success of previous seasons.
Another factor to consider is the actors. Streaming shows are attracting high profile actors who primarily work on movies, therefore requiring salary accommodations in the budget, and their schedules can cause issues of timing, delaying new seasons more than expected.
Visual effects are another factor to consider regarding the time between the releases of new seasons. If there are a lot of effects required, this means that more time is required to develop, add and refine them. Similarly, time is also required for editing the footage and dubbing the season into other languages for when it’ll be distributed around the world.
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell acknowledged that these factors contributed to longer-than-expected waiting times between previous seasons and the upcoming fourth one, which will follow second son Benedict (Luke Thompson) and his relationship with Sophie Baek (Yerin Ha). Brownell told The Hollywood Reporter that, despite the duration of the post-production process, she and the rest of the team is working on increasing the speed of production, as well as the script writing, while keeping within the two-year range.
Are these long gaps ruining audience engagement with a show?
One notable impact of gaps of two or three years for dramatic shows lies with audience engagement. Elongated releases between seasons means that committed viewers tuning in to the new season may find themselves rewatching previous ones just to remind themselves of what happened in preparation for the new season. And those are just the ones who continue to follow the likes of Bridgerton and Stranger Things. Others who are just casual watchers may watch a season and in the gap between that and the new one, forget about the show or not know that there is or will be a new season.
Take Stranger Things, for instance. The first couple of seasons were released within a year of one another in 2016 and 2017, the third launched two years later, then the following one three years after that. This year will mark three years since season four popularised the 1985 song Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush. Feels like a lifetime away, don’t you think? And more than deserving of a rewatch.
Upcoming seasons of shows
The fourth season of Bridgerton is in production at the time of writing, and given that there were two- year gaps between the releases of the previous three seasons, it is reasonable to predict that the upcoming season will start some time in 2026. Until then, fans will have to keep an eye out for behind the scenes clips and photos while they wait for Benedict Bridgerton’s love story to unfold. Stranger Things’ fifth and final season will be coming in 2025, and as mentioned in the previous section, The Boys will return for more cape busting in 2026. Here’s hoping we can all remember what happened the last time around.
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