Heels Season 3: Will Netflix Save This Underrated Show?

In the streaming TV era, it can be hard to gain a loyal audience when viewers always have so many options to choose from. This can lead to lower ratings, and that can get your show canceled if the viewing metrics are not good enough. 

This is what may have happened to Heels, a 2021 Starz drama set in Georgia about a family-run business in the world of independent wrestling. The series, starring Stephen Amell (Arrow), was canceled after Season 2 in September 2023.

But over a year later, there is some hope that Season 3 could eventually happen thanks to Netflix. That’s also the beauty of the streaming TV era. Even when your show gets canceled, there is a chance another network could buy the license and bring it back to life as Netflix already has with series such as Arrested Development (originally on FOX), Designated Survivor (ABC), The Killing (AMC), and Lucifer (FOX).

Will Netflix also save Heels? It’s not a sure thing.

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What Is Heels About?

Heels was a drama focused on a small-town wrestling promotion in Duffy, Georgia called the Duffy Wrestling League (DWL). It was run by Tom Spade, who dies by suicide about a year before the events of the series. He only appears in flashbacks.

Tom’s sons Jack (Amell) and Ace Spade (played by Vikings’ star Alexander Ludwig) are wrestlers in the DWL with Jack running the business now. Jack is the older brother and he’s a top “heel” in the promotion, which is a wrestling term for the bad guy. He tries to come up with a storyline to make Ace the top “face” (read: hero) in a budding rivalry between the brothers.

Jack balances his family life, including working part-time at a retail job to make ends meet, and dealing with a rival promotion that is better funded. There’s also a lot of tension between Jack and the younger, more volatile Ace.

There is also a subplot about Crystal Tyler, who converts from being Ace’s valet and quasi-girlfriend backstage to a wrestler herself, the only female wrestler in the DWL. She has to earn her stripes in the business.

Veteran actor Chris Bauer (The Wire, True Blood) is also prominently featured in the show as Wild Bill Hancock, a washed-up wrestling legend who participates in the DWL and provides plenty of comedic moments to balance the family drama.

Former NFL linebacker James Harrison is also a cast regular as one of the wrestlers, and he is amusing as an actor too in what is a really solid cast. CM Punk also guest stars as an indie wrestler at one point.

When Did Heels Air?

Season 1 of Heels debuted on the premium cable network Starz in August 2021. Season 2 premiered on July 28, 2023, and the season finale aired on September 15, 2023, or just a little over a year ago.

Both seasons are 8 episodes long.

Did Critics and Audiences Like Heels?

Yes, Heels holds an average critics’ rating of 94% at Rotten Tomatoes with both seasons rating highly. The audience score is also 94% as wrestling fans enjoyed the inside look at an independent wrestling league, and the show even appealed to non-wrestling fans for its family drama, the chemistry in the cast, and good performances.

Why Did Heels Get Cancelled?

Not long after the Season 2 finale in September 2023, Starz announced it had canceled Heels and there would be no Season 3. There are a variety of reasons why this could have happened despite the show’s high ratings.

‘HEELS’ has been cancelled by STARZ after a two season run, Variety reports. pic.twitter.com/XcpHKXj8Pq

— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) September 25, 2023

Starz does not have as strong of a track record with its original programming like other premium cable networks such as HBO and Showtime. It has recently shifted towards shows like the Power Universe, and it also canceled other series in 2023 such as Run the World and Blindspotting. A wrestling series does not really fit in with the current lineup at Starz.

With the series airing late in the summer on Friday nights on Starz, it had a hard time generating big ratings, so the audience numbers were just not there, which likely led to the decision not to go forward with Season 3. The show had a high production cost to maintain the wrestling venues.

Also, the 2023 strikes for writers and actors did not help matters. The team could have been working on Season 3 during those months. Instead, Season 2 rolled out during the strike when actors were not allowed to do press for their projects, and that likely had a negative impact on the show’s future as Amell was very outspoken in public about his feelings towards the ongoing strike.

What Is Netflix’s Connection with Heels?

The real shame of Heels getting canceled like it did is that it ended on a Season 2 cliffhanger with Jack’s wrestling future up in the air after a dramatic finish to his match at the big event.

But there is some hope that we could eventually see a Season 3 of Heels. In spring 2024, streaming giant Netflix announced that it acquired the rights to Heels and would start streaming it in September 2024. It was not renewed for a Season 3, but if the first 16 episodes do well on the streaming platform, that could help the underrated show get the ending it deserves.

Will Netflix Save Heels?

However, there is no guarantee Heels Season 3 will ever happen even if the show does good numbers on Netflix. Amell is now busy as the lead in the Suits L.A. spin-off series, which should take top priority for him. Ludwig is also in a lead role in the MGM+ sci-fi series Earth Abides, so it could be hard to get the Spade brothers back together with their scheduling issues.

Last month on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast, Amell addressed the Season 3 hopes:

“I think that Season 3 is a possibility, I think that people are going to have to watch it on Netflix. It’s gonna have to line up schedule-wise for me, because I now have another job that’s in first position. But, listen, without trying to spoil it, we didn’t want to send my character out quite literally on his back. There was always the idea that we would tell more of a story, and I think there’s more to be told. I think that if we did come back, you might see a little bit of a time jump.”

Heels reportedly did not crack the top 10 most-watched shows during its first week on Netflix. Don’t get your hopes up that we’ll see a Season 3, but it certainly would be better than a lot of the shows that Netflix is currently producing as everyone looks for a slice of the streaming pie.

At least this show was unique and had some real heart to it.