I suppose this was inevitable, but it still stings a little. After four creepy seasons, Syfy has cancelled the excellent, but under-watched, anthology series Channel Zero. While the series had fans (myself included), it failed to generate the same amount of buzz as American Horror Story. Now, it’s over. One can hope that now that with Channel Zero cancelled by Syfy, another network – or streaming service – might pick it up. But in the meantime, we’ll have to be content with the four memorable seasons that we were able to see.


I’ve been beating the “please watch Channel Zero!” drum since the show began, because the fact of the matter was not many people watched it. And now, that unfortunate lack of viewership has caught up with the series. Channel Zero creator Nick Antosca confirmed the news that Channel Zero has been cancelled by Syfy.

After 4 seasons, Channel Zero is no more at SYFY.

I loved making this show and I would have loved to do more… but I can’t complain too much about doing 4 stories I loved with people who I loved working with:

People like our writers, our actors, our extraordinary crew, the artists who contributed, our editors and post team, our composer Jeff Russo, our team at Syfy and UCP. And especially the four awesome directors, Craig Macneill, Steven Piet, Arkasha Stevenson, and Evan Katz.

And before all that, the authors of the original creepypasta stories. Kris Straub, Brian Russell, Kerry Hammond, and Charlotte Bywater.
I’m deeply grateful for this experience. Especially to everybody who watched and talked about and wrote about the show. There are stories we didn’t get to tell and creatures you didn’t get to see, but still might. 🍽🐈 Meanwhile, the first 3 seasons are currently on @shudder, and the 4th season will be soon. Enjoy. 🤡💀🖤

Channel Zero drew its inspiration from creepypasta stories – online folklore originally spread via message boards. Each season told a separate, self-contained story, and the results were almost always spectacular. Of the fours seasons, season 3 – Channel Zero: Butcher’s Block – was the only one that felt uneven and unsatisfying. The rest, particularly the fourth, and now final, season Channel Zero: The Dream Door, each had their own moments of greatness. Another rewarding aspect of the show was that each season gave a different filmmaker a chance to shine.

As Antosca told me during an interview for season 3, “The show was always designed to be a showcase for great emerging filmmakers – like I want every season to be a showcase for somebody really exciting who I love, and [for it] to have its own flavor and voice. And…every season has a really kind of different visual style and tone.”

There is a wealth of creepypasta stories out there, which could have successfully provided inspiration for Channel Zero for years to come. But sadly, it just wasn’t in the cards. But the fact that Antosca says he would have “loved to do more” seasons gives me a modicum of hope. Maybe someone out there will save the show. Shudder, the streaming horror service owned by AMC, has been slowly getting into the original series game. The first three seasons of Channel Zero are currently streaming there, and season four will arrive soon. Perhaps they could snap the show up and keep it going. Or perhaps this is the end.