Almost three years ago, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was cancelled on Netflix after a single season. While fans have been waiting to hear any news of a possible continuation, the possibility seems to have thinned over the past few years. But a key player in the show’s production is still holding onto hope, that player being Louis Leterrier. When io9 asked the director, hypothetically, what would have been in store had the series been able to continue, he responded with the following.

“I won’t tell you, because I still have hope that it can come back. I mean, who would have thought that 37 years later that [we would’ve been able to bring Dark Crystal back]? So, I have high hopes. You know, it might not be me. It might be my grandson or, you know, Jim Henson’s great-grandson, but somebody will direct the rest of this show because we need to tell that story. And beyond. I mean, Thra is a place we want to go to.”

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a prequel to Jim Henson’s 1982 original fantasy epic, The Dark Crystal. The series takes place on the alien planet, Thra, which is inhabited by seven clans of Gelfling that are ruled by the tyrannical Skeksis. When Rian, a member of the castle guard, witnesses a horrific murder, he is framed and forced into hiding. Rian and his friends have to set out and reunite the Gelfling clans, build a resistance, and take down the Skeksis once and for all.
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Upon its release, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was unanimously praised for its expansion on the lore of the original film, its beautiful puppetry, and its enormous scale. Production of the series brought back numerous veterans that worked on The Dark Crystal. One in particular was Brian Froud, who worked with Jim Henson as the conceptual designer for Thra and its inhabitants. Froud returned to create more creatures, lore, and worlds for Age of Resistance, along with his wife Wendy, who designed and built puppets for both productions.

On September 2020, it was announced that The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was cancelled on Netflix. The news came directly after the series on a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program. But The Jim Henson Company is not going down without a fight of their own…

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Holding Onto Hope For More Dark Crystal

After the show’s premiere, co-creators Will Matthews and Jeffrey Addis established with IndieWire that they had a clear idea for an ending in mind, as well as a “concrete document for season two”. The two promised that what was in store wasn’t anything that audiences were expecting after watching the original film (which already established that the Gelfling were “all gone”). Sadly, the series was cancelled before any of those ideas could come to light. When the news came out, executive producer Lisa Henson was quick to reassure fans that the company was not done with the beloved fantasy epic.

“We know fans are eager to learn how this chapter of The Dark Crystal saga concludes and we’ll look for ways to tell that story in the future.”

Despite the cancellation, The Jim Henson Company has continued to release media based on their beloved franchise. Such releases include a tabletop roleplaying game set in Thra, various statues from Weta, and even a ballet by the Royal Opera House that just premiered earlier this May. Henson and Froud are also teaming up with Walking Dead actor, Norman Reedus, to create an all new fantasy series for AppleTV+. While this new series is not Dark Crystal related, the president of TV at The Jim Henson Company, Halle Stanford, expressed that they are “ready to jump” back to Thra once they have the opportunity.

As excited as everyone is for a second season, it seems as if the main things holding back production are cost and rights. If Netflix wouldn’t continue the series, who would? Previous Netflix originals found new homes on other streaming services and networks, but there’s also the possibility of books, games, and comics to also continue the story. Until then, we can only hold on hope for that conclusion.