Netflix cancels original series after just two seasons: report

NBA-focused series premiered in 2024

Netflix is reportedly scrapping a popular original docuseries.

Starting 5, which debuted in 2024, gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the NBA season as it followed five star players.

The first edition featured LeBron James, Jimmy Butler, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, and Domantas Sabonis. Season two, released this year, followed Tyrese Haliburton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Jaylen Brown.

But the series — produced in part by Barack and Michelle Obama’s company, Higher Ground — won’t be returning for a third season, according to a report from Sports Business Journal.

The Independent has reached out to Netflix for comment.

LeBron James was featured in the first season of ‘Starting 5’ (AP)

Netflix is reportedly scrapping one of its original series (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

While viewing figures for season two have yet to be released, What’s on Netflix reported that season one of the series drew 4.6 million views from July to December 2024. But that figure dropped to just 1 million views in the first half of 2025.

Netflix has similar-style shows, including the NFL-centered Quarterback and F1: Drive to Survive, both of which have seen significantly higher viewership, according to What’s on Netflix.

Starting five notably featured a poignant moment when LeBron James meets the woman who saved his son’s life. Bronny James, his eldest, was 18 when he suffered a cardiac arrest running through a pre-season workout at the University of Southern California in July 2023; he remembers nothing from it, aside from blacking out during a regular drill.

Team doctors, including Erin Tillman, whom LeBron greets inside the locker room with a sense of awe, performed CPR and shocked Bronny back to life. “They are the reason Bronny is alive now and smiling and thriving and living out his dream,” he says.

Meanwhile, the streamer is set to continue with its monthly tradition of adding and removing titles. But one of its most rewatched titles appears to be on that list.

Among the films leaving in December 2025 are the Austin Powers, Beverly Hills Cop, and Matrix franchises, with 28 Weeks Later also set to be removed after a successful run on the service earlier this year.

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The most significant departure, though, is all 15 seasons of Supernatural, the fantasy series created by The Boys showrunner Eric Kripke that ran from 2005 to 2020. It’ll be removed from the service after 13 years of being one of the most re-watched titles on Netflix due to the expiration of a license deal with The CW, the network that originally aired the show.

Fans of the series have until December 18 to watch before it leaves Netflix. Find a full list of every movie and TV show being removed this month here – and a compilation of everything being added here.