Netflix‘s Wellmania is leaving the gym for the final time, its star Celeste Barber has said — and she isn’t happy about it.
Barber posted an update on Instagram revealing that she has been informed the show will not be returning for a second season. The first debuted in late March.
“Netflix said it’s something about numbers. Sure. I thought it smashed it but I don’t understand how it works,” she said.
“Thank you for the love and support around the show. It was so fun, we had such an excellent time and the was it was received was so overwhelming. I’m bummed that I can no longer explore that excellent character of Liv Healy, and I know a lot of you saw yourselves in that character and wanted to see more, but this industry is kinda bullshit.”
Earlier in the video, Barber acknowledged that “in the grand scheme of things with what is going on in the world at the moment, who f**king cares?” but added: “A lot of you do care and have been asking me about it and what’s happening.”
Wellmania, from Fremantle Australia, follows Barber as Liv Healy as a live-fast, die young food writer in who is forced to reassess her ways and undertake a regimented health routine after a major health scare leads to her dream job in the U.S. being cancelled. It’s based on ‘Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness’ by Bridgit Delaney, who co-created the show with Benjamin Law. Genevieve Mooy, Lachlan Buchanan and JJ Fong also star alongside Barber, who is an exec producer on the show. News of the series first came in December 2021.
Deadline has contacted Netflix’s teams in Australia and New Zealand for comment. Sources close to the streamer confirmed it had been axed.
Netflix recently ordered four productions out of Australia: Delta Goodrem-starring feature Love is in the Air, TV series Desert King (working title) and The Survivors, and Onefour: Against All Odds, a doc exploring a controversy drill rap group.
Elsewhere in Australia, Screen Australia has appointed WildBrain exec Deirdre Brennan as its new CEO. The well-known exec will relocate from North America to replace Graeme Mason.