Game of Thrones star Lena Headey’s Netflix Western, The Abandons, has officially been cancelled. Though it’s always a shame when a highly anticipated TV show falls flat, this cancellation is especially bitter since it could have meant a first for the genre. The Abandons had so much potential, but even with great performances from Headey and co-star Gillian Anderson, critics and general audiences weren’t impressed.
The Abandons premiered its first season on December 4th, 2025, and was cancelled just a month later in January 2026. The series, set in 1850, followed Headey’s Fiona Nolan, a devoutly catholic Irish woman forced to make morally complicated choices to defend her home from Anderson’s Constance Van Ness.
It’s a concept that promised drama and intense Western excitement, all led by excellent actresses in powerful roles. Unfortunately, with Rotten Tomatoes scores of only 30% (critics) and 52% (audiences), combined with low viewership, Netflix had no real choice but to pull the plug.
The Abandons Could Have Been The First Multi-Season Western Drama Starring Women
Men dominate the Western genre, so it’s always exciting when a new project features female leads. This hasn’t happened particularly often in the world of TV, and when it does, the show is either a miniseries or cancelled before it can get anywhere.
2022 was a great year for female-led Western TV shows, with the premieres of Walker: Independence and The English. The former series was meant as a Walker prequel and followed a wealthy woman who heads West after her husband’s murder. Unfortunately, this is another TV show that didn’t perform, so it was cancelled after season 1.
The English was really something spectacular. Set near the end of the 1800s, this Western featured a riveting performance from Emily Blunt, who starred as an Englishwoman who travels through the tumultuous West on a mission to avenge her son. Critics lauded The English, but it was only a miniseries.
These two were essentially all we had in the way of female-led Western drama shows before The Abandons. For a moment, it looked like there was finally an opportunity for a long-form story of this type. However, it was capped off at that single-season mark.
Why Things Went Wrong For The Abandons
Reception wasn’t all bad for The Abandons. Though critics who gave positive reviews were in the minority, they existed nonetheless. Still, their praise centered mostly on the performances of Headey and Anderson. It was generally concluded that these actresses gave everything they could to the project, but that the thin writing and character development didn’t give them much to work with.
Said and done, the trailer for The Abandons offered all the best parts of the series. Everything in those seven episodes that filled the space in between was lackluster. The intriguing nature of those handful of moments, combined with the anticipation of seeing stars like Headey in a Western, suggests there’s potential for a multi-season, female-led project in the genre. Unfortunately, that void will have to remain empty for a while longer.
- Release Date
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December 4, 2025
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Kurt Sutter
