Lifetime is ending its relationship with You after one season but Netflix has swiftly come to the rescue & has picked up the series for a second season.
The series from exec producer Greg Berlanti will become a Netflix original series for its previously announced sophomore season after basic cable network Lifetime opted against airing another cycle of the Penn Badgley stalker drama. The streaming giant already had an SVOD deal in place for season one, which launches globally December 26.
Picked up to series in April 2017, the thriller is based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling novel of the same name and completed its first-season run in November, with a live-same-day viewership average of 611,000 total viewers. The lackluster ratings, paired with the fact that Lifetime did not own the Warner Horizon Scripted Television-produced drama, made a second season unsustainable for the cable network. The series was renewed prematurely by Lifetime for a second season before the first season aired due to Lifetime’s initial faith in the series.
Netflix also showed early faith in the series and in May, signed on for second-window rights in the U.S. as well as for its international first run. The streaming deal, which had been in the works for months, was part of a business model in which Netflix partners with U.S. studios and identifies series that air on other linear or digital networks early on in the process. (Other shows under the co-financing model include Syfy’s Nightflyers, NBC’s Good Girls and The CW’s Dynasty, among others.) The model helps to provide additional financial support for big-swing dramas — with You representing a bigger swing and rare studio buy than the typical scripted fare Lifetime picks up.
