Netflix cancels 'Glow' as production is shut down by Covid-19

The streaming giant has cancelled the fourth season of the comedy amid the pandemic

The difficulty of shooting socially distanced wrestling scenes led to Netflix's decision to cancel 'Glow'. Courtesy Netflix

Netflix has cancelled popular comedy series Glow, as production has been shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"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 Hollywood news site, Deadline.

Alison Brie and Victor Quinaz in season two of 'Glow'. Courtesy Netflix

"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 [bad] 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."

The show tells the story of a troop of "misfit" female wrestlers in 1980s Los Angeles, charting their rise to unexpected success. It was renewed for a fourth and final series in August 2019.

The showrunners ended their pragmatic statement, saying: “We’ll miss our cast of weirdo clowns and our heroic crew. It was the best job.” They also added a plea: “Register to vote. And please vote.”

Netflix confirmed the news with a statement explaining that there is no socially distanced way to shoot some of the more physical scenes between the wrestlers.

"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," the Netflix spokesperson said in a statement.

"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."

The show stars Alison Brie, Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin. Brie, who plays Ruth Wilder, posted a tribute to her co-stars on Instagram, writing: "Going to miss this ... Forever grateful to my Glow family for changing my life forever."

Seasons one to three of 'Glow' are available to stream on Netflix now