Netflix has turned a cancelled network sci-fi show into a fast-moving chart play. After all three seasons landed on the platform on May 1, 2026, the series entered FlixPatrol’s U.S. Netflix TV **chart at No. 3 on May 2 and held that exact spot on May 3 and May 4. **The Netflix bump also makes sense because this is a completed three-season genre package with a built-in “why did this end?” hook. Not to mention a lot of people would now be sampling it without even knowing that the show was cancelled after three seasons.
The show originally ran on NBC from 2021 to 2024, but its final season was shortened to six episodes, with reports tying the abbreviated order to strike-contingency planning and cast-contract logistics. That kind of messy network ending can hurt a live-broadcast run, but it can help on streaming: viewers now get a contained, 30-episode sci-fi mystery without waiting years for answers.
The series is La Brea, created by David Appelbaum and starring Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, and Jack Martin. Its premise is pure network sci-fi madness in the best streaming-binge way: a massive sinkhole opens in Los Angeles, sending survivors into a dangerous ancient world while their loved ones above ground search for answers. Netflix frames the story around a family split between two worlds, with primeval threats, survival alliances, military rescue efforts, and time-travel mystery all feeding the hook. That makes its sudden Top 3 Netflix arrival easy to understand: the premise is instantly clickable.
Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for.
You took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You’re a systems thinker who can’t help but notice the seams in things.
The wasteland doesn’t reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That’s you.
You’d survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely.
Arrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards.
The galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn’t have it any other way.
La Brea ended after three seasons because NBC’s renewal came with unusual production realities. La Brea Season 3, for instance, was ordered as a shortened six-episode final run, largely shaped by strike-contingency planning before the 2023 WGA **and SAG-AFTRA **work stoppages. The shorter order also helped release cast members from longer contract obligations, making it easier for actors to pursue other work once the show wrapped. Ratings likely played into the decision, too: the series started in 2021 and currently has a weak 45% audience rating on RT and 5.8/10 ratings on IMDB.
La Brea is available to stream on Netflix. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Action & Adventure
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Science Fiction
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2021 - 2024-00-00
Adam Davidson, Cherie Nowlan, Thor Freudenthal, David Barrett, Ron Underwood, Greg McLean, Nick Gomez, Rose Troche, Christine Moore, Tara Miele