Netflix renewed GLOW for its fourth and final season in September 2019 and had the decision reversed a little over a year later. "Netflix has decided not to finish filming the final season of GLOW," series creators Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch said in a statement to Deadline on Oct. 2. "There's a lot of sh*tty things happening in the world that are much bigger than this right now. But it still sucks that we don't get to see these 15 women in a frame together again." The show was already three weeks into filming when production was halted due to the pandemic in March. They had finished filming episode one and were beginning to film the second episode.
It was explained that Netflix had been trying to figure out how to prevent an outbreak on set — difficult with a wrestling theme — and the increased COVID-19-related costs added to an already expensive budget. But the cancellation is especially painful as GLOW is one of the few Netflix series that offers a diverse cast of women who differ in age, race, body type, and more.