Why do new seasons of our favorite series take so long?

BarcelonaJust a decade ago, viewers knew exactly when their favorite series would return. Typically, the most powerful productions had a new season in the fall, punctual as clockwork. However, today the waits have become eternal and unpredictable. Productions likeStranger ThingsThey accumulate more than three years between deliveries. And this is not the only case.

FriendsIt is the perfect series, and not only to be the reference for thesitcom, but because all ten of its seasons always premiered between September and October.Emergencies(ER), the series made famous by George Clooney, also followed this pattern, with a new season every year. With the arrival of streaming platforms, this system is broken. Netflix, HBO Max, and Disney+ are opting for a different model: fewer episodes, a bigger budget, and more time to produce.Stranger ThingsThis is the clearest example, with almost four years between the fourth and fifth seasons.

"One of the main reasons is the increase in the complexity and ambition of productions," explains Elena Neira, a researcher at the UOC specializing in platforms. "Post-production has become a key factor; there are now more special effects, greater technical demands... all of this lengthens schedules," she adds. Examples of the situation that Neira explains are The CrowneitherGame of Thunder, which spaced out their seasons as they grew in visual and narrative ambition, with intervals of up to two years. Another high-flying production that has kept its fans waiting isSeverance, which spent three years creating the second season. The Apple TV+ series, one of the most nominated at this year's Emmy Awards, is very complex in terms of plot, and such a gap between seasons forces viewers to make a great effort to catch up. Now that it's one of the series of the moment, its producer, Ben Stiller, has promised that it won't take that long to make a third season.

Elena Neira also points to another decisive element: "The actors' schedules are a critical factor. If you have a cast with highly sought-after names, it's very difficult to schedule recordings. The actors have other commitments, which ends up postponing filming." This is the case ofWednesday, the sequel toThe Addams Family, on Netflix, starring Jenna Ortega, who has seen her film career take off with titles likeScream VI either Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which has complicated the return to filming.

Other paradigmatic cases are the romantic seriesThe Bridgertons, which premiered in 2020 and has maintained a biennial cadence for now, three seasonsThe fourth installment is, in fact, scheduled for 2026. The last of us, an apocalyptic story starring Pedro Pascal, has also taken two years to release its second season.

In addition to the structural causes that delay productions, possible external causes must also be taken into account, such as the pandemic and the screenwriters' and actors' strike, which halted filming and blew up many calendars.

However, not all series experience almost eternal breaks.The Bear eitherHacksThese are examples of more agile productions, often with fewer sets and less complex plots. They function as fast-paced, fresh content. Short seasons, compact shooting schedules.The Bear, for example, has captivated critics and audiences with four seasons and a couple of shows, a kitchen, and some edgy characters. In these cases, maintaining an annual schedule is possible and even strategic. They build audience loyalty, generate regularity, and prevent memory loss. Another series that follows this model is Only murders in the building, from Disney+, which will premiere its fifth installment in September and has had a new one every year since 2021.

New consumption

But all this movement in the industry isn't neutral for the viewer. The new fragmented cadence forces a new type of consumption. Now, before watching the new season, it's necessary to review summary videos, reread theories, and revisit old episodes. Before, you waited for the new episode every Thursday; now you wait two whole years. And then, you watch eight in one night (if the platform releases all the episodes at once; if it releases them weekly, the wait is even longer). "Before, we heard a kind of emptiness when a season ended. Now, with so many series, the mourning has disappeared. There's always something else to watch," says Neira. He adds: "The relevance of series is more ephemeral, but, paradoxically, there's a lot of...rewatchThere are people who have re-watched the first season ofThe Squid GameNow that the second one has arrived, it's a way of trying to recover the lost connection."

There are also differences depending on the platform. "Netflix and Prime are committed to volume. They want subscribers to feel like there's always something new. They can't let them leave. On the other hand, Apple TV+ or HBO Max opt for less quantity but more prestige," the professor points out. "It's a more authorial television, but with less retention. Apple, for example, has around 45 million subscribers but very low retention. Its model is riskier."

Programming also plays a role in this puzzle. "Platforms are no longer governed by seasonal logic like traditional television. They reschedule premieres to fit in with the strongest commercial quarters or to reinforce certain moments. This also justifies the delays," she concludes.

Stranger Thingswill end its story this year, 2025, almost a decade after it began. But the viewer of 2025 will no longer be the same as the viewer of 2016. They will have changed. They will have grown. Perhaps they will no longer have the same time. Nor the same desire. Or perhaps they will. What is certain is that time has become a central factor in the television experience. And the way series manage this time—production time, waiting time, consumption time—will end up marking their memories.