Tuca & Bertie Canceled After a Brief Second Life at Adult Swim

Nothing gold can stay: the beloved, bafflingly weird animated sitcom Tuca & Bertie has been canceled following the conclusion of its third season in August. Showrunner Lisa Hanawalt announced the news on Twitter with an emotional text post.

“Working with Adult Swim was very creatively fulfilling, our execs were all smart and thoughtful, and I’m grateful that we got the space to make all these wild and heartfelt episodes about things that matter to me very much,” she wrote. Hanawalt also mentioned that she has an ending planned for the show that she would like to share one day. You can read her statement in full below:

Goodbye to Tuca & Bertie, for now 🙁 pic.twitter.com/fVodONC4mY

— Lisa Hanawalt (@lisadraws) November 2, 2022

Tuca & Bertie has had a rocky run since first premiering on Netflix back in 2019. The behemoth streamer canceled the show, which was then picked up by Adult Swim and ran there for two seasons before being axed. The series received much praise for its nuanced portrayal of trauma and mental health issues, as well as for just being downright hilarious.

As Adam Conover of Adam Ruins Everything pointed out on Twitter, the show’s cancellation is undoubtedly influenced by cutbacks in the wake of Warner Brothers and Discovery’s merger. The massive media conglomerate has canceled 38 animated shows so far, even going as far to take some series off of HBO Max. Such a move effectively erases a prolific moment of animation history.

I’m going to be very clear: Lisa’s beautiful show was cancelled because of the Warner/Discovery merger. After the merger, Zaslav announced $3 BILLION in budget cuts. Long-time execs who fought for shows like Tuca were laid off. As a result, WBD has cancelled 38 animated shows. https://t.co/sJxBBLnWtb

— Adam Conover (@adamconover) November 3, 2022

For a more in-depth look at how animators’ work has been undervalued, definitely check out Gita Jackson’s timely essay over at IGN. And if you’re feeling sentimental for a more hopeful time, look back at Paste’s 2021 interview with Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong.