Picture: Netflix
If you can believe it, it’ll be two years since Barbarians season 2 (stylized as Barbarians II on Netflix or Barbaren in German) was released on the service. However, after recent omissions and comments from involved parties in 2023 and into 2024, it looks like there won’t be a third season.
Headlined by Laurence Rupp, Jeanne Goursaud, and David Schütter, the series follows three people’s fates that are interwoven at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest that took place in 9 A.D. that saw Germanic warriors trying desperately to halt the spread of the Roman Empire.
Season 1 of the show debuted on Netflix globally on October 23rd, 2020 with the second season dropping two years later on October 21st, 2022.
Following the release of Barbarians season 2, the show featured in the global Netflix top 10s for a total of three weeks picking up 45.20 million hours watched. We also saw the first season re-enter the top 10s for two weeks during that time, although we don’t have comparable watchtime data for season 1.
From the recent Netflix Engagement Report, we can see that Barbarians season 1 ranked #1482 between January and June 2023, and Barbarians season 2 ranked #1443.
| Title | Globally Available | Hours Viewed Globally |
|---|---|---|
| Barbarians | Yes | 14,100,000 |
| Barbarians II | Yes | 14,500,000 |
However, we do have FlixPatrol data, which suggests the second season fell away much faster in the daily top 10s. Even in Germany, the series had disappeared from the daily top 10s after only 12 days. We often need to see a series of features for several weeks in its home country to justify renewal.
Has Barbarians been canceled?
Last year, we contacted Guamont and Netflix about the show’s future. The former told us that the series hadn’t been officially canceled but that production had “concluded.” A Netflix representative also confirmed that they had not picked up the show for a third season at that time.
Nothing has seemingly changed since then. In recent weeks, Netflix Germany revealed its full slate of upcoming titles, and Barbarians was notably absent. Netflix Germany has multiple returning titles: How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) season 4, Kleo season 2, and The Empress season 2.
Since that event, one of the show’s main stars recently confirmed that there are no plans for a third season, either. In response to an Instagram question, Laurence Rupp suggested our reporting thus far continues to be the case. When asked about a third season, the actor responded, “Unfortunately, there will be no third season soon…”
The “soon” in the response seemingly keeps the door open for further down the road, but given the length of time, it looks highly unlikely. Rupp has since worked with Netflix on the recently released 2024 movie The Heartbreak Agency and is attached to multiple other upcoming projects.
Picture: Netflix
We have contacted Gaumont again and will report back if we hear anything new.
Are you disappointed Barbarians won’t return for a season 3 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments down below.