I hate The OA. It’s just not my thing. Sorry. But I understand the grief that comes with the cancellation of a show. I felt it profusely when Fox cancelled Brooklyn Nine-Nine. But would I go as far as to create a slew of theories, explaining how a cancellation is actually a big marketing stunt for season 3? Maybe, maybe not. But that’s exactly what a heap of OA-ers are doing on the interweb.
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I… I will not do you a disservice by trying to explain The OA in full. Instead, I’ll just give you the conclusion of season 2. In the end, the characters travelled to an alternate dimension where The OA is a TV show created by… you guessed it, Brit Marling. Trippy, trippy, trippy.
In a statement released earlier this week, vice president of original programming Cindy Holland said Netflix is “incredibly proud of the 16 mesmerising chapters of The OA, and are grateful to Brit and Zal (Batmanglij) for sharing their audacious vision and for realising it through their incredible artistry.
“We look forward to working with them again in the future, in this and perhaps many other dimensions.”
Initially fans took to Twitter with the hashtag #RenewTheOA, then the theories started to appear on Reddit.
Per INSIDER, one such theory titled: ‘Hear Me Out: This isn’t the end and I’ll tell you why’ – argues that because of the way season 2 ended and how its cancellation was announced, there are just “so many signs that point to this being a larger game being played by Zal, Brit, and Netflix.” In other words, this is just a massive and slightly traumatic marketing stunt.
The OP provided four clues to back up this theory, like how Holland’s cancellation statement – about looking forward to working with Brit and Zal in another dimension – is a big indicator that we’ve actually moved into the third season already.
There’s even a “#SaveTheOA Global Virtual Flashmob”, asking fans to film themselves doing the magic dancing in protest of the cancellation. A petition to save the series on change.org already has over 38,000 signatures.
This would be a cool as hell marketing stunt, but it probably isn’t. A source close to the situation told INSIDER that “the show is not returning.” The main cast have also said their goodbyes to the show online.
“Zal and I are deeply sad not to finish this story,” Marling shared on Instagram. “The first time I heard the news I had a good cry. So did one of our executives at Netflix who has been with us since the early days when we were sketching out Hap’s basement on the floor of our production office in Queens. It’s been an intense journey for everyone who worked on and cared about this story.”
But maybe, maybe another network / streaming service will pick up the show. Or maybe, Netflix will change their mind.
