Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2022
Among the best animated series aimed at kids to drop in the last few years is My Dad The Bounty Hunter, a series that follows a father who has his kids discover he’s an intergalactic bounty hunter and join him on his adventures.
First debuting on Netflix in February 2023 before following up with a second batch of episodes later that year, the series featured an impressive voice cast alongside its visuals done by Netflix Animation and French studio Dwarf Animation .
Stranger Things star Priah Ferguson led the voice cast, which also included Laz Alonso, Yvonne Orji, Yvette Nicole Brown, Thando Thabethe, Keith David, Tim Meadows, Ralph Ineson, and Chelsea Peretti.
Speaking to us through email, Everett Downing Jr. confirmed that Netflix had opted not to move forward with a season 3 despite admiring the show and appreciating its viewing performance (more on that in a second).
Downing Jr co-created the show alongside Patrick Harpin and teamed up with Netflix on the animated series We The People released in 2021. He was also a co-director on the Oscar-winning animated short Hair Love.
“I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to work with such an incredible team of partners and artists,” Downing Jr. told us regarding the news on Netflix not proceeding with a third season, adding, “It’s so unreal watching your ideas come to life! Everyone who worked on the show fell in love with Terry, Tess, Lisa, Sean, and the entire cast of quirky, wild, and crazy characters. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to revisit this world again someday. For now, these characters and stories will be living rent-free in my heart for the rest of my life.”
My Dad the Bounty Hunter (L to R) Yvette Nicole Brown as KRS, Jecobi Swain as Sean, Laz Alonso as Sabo Brok and Priah Ferguson as Lisa in My Dad the Bounty Hunter. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2023
It’s a shame the show isn’t returning for more, as it did pretty well based on its performance. The second season did enough to enter the global top 10s for a week between August 20th and the 27th, 2023, picking up 7.3M hours watched, equating to 1.7M views. The two Netflix Engagement Reports for 2023 show that seasons 1 and 2 had 112.9M viewing hours worldwide, equating to a combined 27 million views. FlixPatrol suggests the show was the 25th biggest kids title of 2023 and recorded the show entering the TV top 10s in over 60 countries in its lifetime. While that’s not to the scale of juggernauts like CoComelon, Gabby’s Dollhouse, or Sonic Prime, they’re all based on established IP and have much more marketing heft behind them.
Are you disappointed My Dad the Bounty Hunter won’t be returning for season 3 on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.