Hemlock Grove came to an end in 2015 after three seasons, leaving fans wondering why it was cancelled and if a fourth season was somehow possible. In 2013, Brian McGreevy’s debut novel Hemlock Grove was adapted into a TV series thanks to Netflix and producer Eli Roth, bringing a different type of horror story to the streaming service.
Hemlock Grove is the name of a fictional town in Pennsylvania that hides some obscure secrets that affect those living in it. The series kicks off when Roman Godfrey (played by Bill Skarsgård), heir to the town’s wealthy Godfrey family, befriends town’s newcomer Peter Rumancek (Landon Liboiron), who work together to shed some light on some recent murders while also uncovering the town’s dirtiest secrets. The first season covers the entire novel, with the subsequent seasons being more of a follow up than an adaptation of the source material.
A concrete reason on why Hemlock Grove was cancelled was never revealed, and with Netflix not making its stats public (unless they break records, like Stranger Things), there’s no way to know if viewership decreased or increased with seasons 2 and 3. After its opening weekend, Netflix revealed Hemlock Grove was “viewed by more members globally in its first weekend than was House of Cards”. However, the series didn’t do that well with critics from the beginning.
While some praised the references to horror classics like Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, others criticized the amount of gothic tropes and the mix of fantastic creatures in a story that, at some points, felt messy. Although Hemlock Grove season 2 was received slightly better, that wasn’t enough to save it, and the production team went into the third season knowing it would be the last. This critical reception most likely influenced Netflix’s decision to end the series, even if viewership wasn’t bad.
In the end, the creative team planned accordingly and gave each character an ending, leaving no loose ends – except for the fate of Shelley and Nadia. Still, the ending (or more like the whole season) felt rushed, and the writers made sure no fourth season was possible by literally ending all the main characters, making it impossible for another network to rescue it. If Hemlock Grove were to come back in a not-so-distant future, it would have to be as either a remake or a film adaptation, and would most likely not feature the same cast – something fans might not agree with. For now, there's no way the upirs and werewolves will come back as the audience knew them.