With more Asian lead shows coming out and shedding light on some amazing Asian actor’s talent, and what they bring to the table, Netflix’s The Brothers Sun was no different with the show both allowing unknown and well-known Asian actors to show their acting skills to new audiences, but why was the show canceled even with amazing reviews?
When Netflix released the 8-episode show The Brothers Sun on January 4th, 2024, it was met with amazing reviews and ended up on Netflix’s top 10 shows in America for five weeks after release, but even with high ratings like 84% from critics on rotten tomatoes and a 7.6/10 on IMDb Netflix still canceled a show that was getting great reviews.
Netflix canceled the show due to the low viewership that the show had been getting with a total of 126.1 million hours viewership which for the 206 plus million users Netflix has it’s very low for what they were hoping for, but this doesn’t make the show bad or not worth watching, so when interviewing two of the people that have seen the show they gave very great reason for why the show is worth watching, and what they think about the cancellation.
Ashton Prasouvo an Asian American student at Prairie high school was interviewed about a couple of things for The Brothers Sun and how he related to the family dynamic the show offered, “ I relate to the family dynamic a lot coming from an Asian household and for the relationship between the two brothers, I only have a sister but I would say it’s pretty similar between my sister and I also some of my cousins as well, but other than that a lot of their family dynamic is all theatrics and entertainment.”
This show is relatable for Asians, but what about someone who is a non-Asian American how would they relate to the story that the show was trying to tell? When interviewing Skye Wright on why they wanted to watch the show, and what made them continue to watch the show this is what they had to say “I wanted to watch the show because of the story about the family dynamics between the two brothers, and how they deal with their differences being raised by their different parents.”
As you can see even for someone who may not know what it’s like to come from an Asian background the story of The Brothers Sun was able to capture the audience in a way that made it feel like it wasn’t just for people with an Asian background, but what do both of these people think about the cancellation and do they think the show should have gotten renewed for a second season.
When asked Ashton how he felt about the cancellation and whether or not the show deserved a second season this is what he had to say “ When I found out that the show got canceled I was disappointed, because the show meant a lot to me, and when seeing the reviews for the work it seem that the show meant a lot to people. I also do think that the show should have gotten a second season, but unfortunately, some things can’t happen I understand that this was What Netflix thought was best for the company, but, sadly, the people who have worked on this show can’t continue to tell their story.”
Seeing just how important this show was to Ashton it makes you wonder what other people like Ashton felt when the show announced its cancellation. Skye had also thought the same as Ashton, but wanted to add more to it “What makes the show worth watching would be the story between the family, and how they deal with their differences, and not only is the story great but this is one of the many show that has great choreography when it comes to the fight scenes in the show making it very entertaining to watch. Yet when it comes to the cancellation Nexflix was justified to cancel the show, but at the same time the show deserved a second season and I bet if it did it would have done better than the first season, and the show left off with more for the story to be told”.
Just knowing that this means so much to both of these people just makes you wonder why not renew the show for a second season but these things don’t happen. With all of this information and even with the cancellation of the show is it still worth watching knowing that the story will not continue? Well, this is what Ashton wanted to say “I would for sure recommend the show whether you relate to the family dynamic or not. It’s just a great story that I feel many people would enjoy”. Skye also wanted to add to this and say “I would recommend this show to anyone that loves family-based stories with action, and criminal elements. Not only that but it is a great watch”. So if you have the time in your day you should too watch The Brothers Sun, and see what you think of the show.
