Netflix’s ‘La Brea’ Surges Back as Instant Hit Two Years After Cancellation
A show about individuals falling through a sinkhole into prehistoric Los Angeles has, fittingly, found a way to time travel into a second life. ‘La Brea’, the NBC sci-fi drama that wrapped up its run in 2024, made its debut on Netflix on May 1 and quickly climbed to the platform’s top charts, demonstrating that its dedicated fanbase was simply waiting for a larger audience to discover it.
The series secured the number three position on Netflix’s top 10 TV show list in the United States within just one day of its release, trailing only two Netflix originals that had premiered shortly before its arrival. All three seasons became available at once on May 1, following the show’s previous exclusivity on Peacock for several years as part of its distribution agreement with Universal Television.
Created by David Appelbaum, the series stars Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Zyra Gorecki, and Jack Martin as the Harris family, whose lives are disrupted when a catastrophic sinkhole opens near the La Brea Tar Pits, swallowing half of them into a prehistoric world approximately 10,000 years in the past. The remaining family members, stranded in the present, must find a way to reach their loved ones while uncovering the impossible truth of what transpired.
The series ran for three seasons before NBC decided to conclude it with a shortened six-episode third season, a choice influenced by production disruptions caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023. This led the network to release actors and wrap up the story on a tighter timeline than originally intended. Fans had long argued that the show deserved a more expansive conclusion.
The cult following that developed around ‘La Brea’ during its NBC run was consistently vocal about the show being underestimated. Critics often dismissed it for its uneven pacing, subpar CGI, and a plot that prioritized outrageous twists over coherent storytelling. However, that very willingness to embrace chaos was what made it compelling for a dedicated group of fans who appreciated the show on its own terms.
The series had already shown its ability to perform well in international Netflix markets, having been released in select regions in late 2024 and achieving modest success despite a limited rollout. The U.S. debut seems to have provided it with significant momentum, indicating that the show’s appeal translates effectively to a binge-friendly streaming format where viewers can enjoy all 30 episodes without the anxiety of weekly wait times and potential cancellations looming over them.
Creator Appelbaum has discussed the effort involved in crafting an ending that provided the show’s various storylines and characters with a sense of proper emotional closure. He noted that the team spent considerable time in the writers’ room trying to tie all narrative threads together in a way that felt complete. For viewers arriving via Netflix with the entire series available, that closure is accessible from the very first episode.
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