We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Netflix boss says Michael Bay’s 6 Underground won’t be getting a sequel

Ryan Reynolds and Michael Bay wont be returning to Netflix anytime soon

It’s a well-known fact that if a TV series or a film appears in Netflix’s top ten bar, we can generally expect to see a sequel. We have seen this with Netflix’s recent expansion of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead universe, which currently has an animated series, a prequel and a sequel in the works. However, Scott Studer, original film chief at Netflix, says that Michael Bay’s 6 Underground is bucking the trend, despite positive data to the contrary.

As part of a profile in Variety, Stuber shared how the action movie, starring Ryan Reynolds, just didn’t make the cut, and wasn’t what Netflix deemed as franchise material. Despite currently sitting as the fourth most popular original movie according to the site’s data, the film made no cultural impact, and quickly disappeared from everyone’s attention shortly after its release. Compared to other popular thriller movies like Extraction, and Old Guard, Studer admits that the company missed the mark with 6 Underground.

“We didn’t feel like we got there on that one creatively,” Stuber said. “It was a nice hit, but at the end of the day we didn’t feel like we nailed the mark to justify coming back again. There just wasn’t that deep love for those characters or that world.”

Despite casting household names Ryan Reynolds, Corey Hawkins, Melanie Laurent, and Dave Franco, 6 Underground infamously received awful reviews, and has just a 36% on Rotten Tomatoes. But critics haven’t stopped Netflix before.

The original movie Kissing Booth received significantly lower ratings, and harsher public criticism than Bay’s movie, but still, the streaming service made three movies. With that in mind, it is shocking to hear Stuber mention creativity in the decision, when Netflix has a history of been driven by numbers and user analytics first and foremost.

Perhaps this is the start of Netflix beginning a strict quality control campaign on their content, or maybe there is an unknown viewer metric driving their choice. Either way, it is exciting to see what original films Netflix deems worthy of expanding in the future. If you are looking for some streaming content, be sure to read our guide on the best horror movies on Netflix.