Netflix cancels Wicklow-filmed teen series Fate: The Winx Saga

Netflix has cancelled Fate: The Winx Saga, the teen-led fantasy drama series made at Ardmore Studios in Co Wicklow, after two seasons.

The show began filming in Ireland in 2019, with a second season completed in 2021, but series showrunner Brian Young revealed in an Instagram post on Tuesday that the streaming service had declined to renew it for a third run.

“This is not fun news to share, but Netflix have decided not to move forward with season three of Fate: The Winx Saga,” Mr Young wrote.

“I’m so proud of everyone who worked on the show, and so happy we got to tell the stories we did. Our cast and crew put in a ton of hard work creating this world and these characters.”

Swiftonomics: can Taylor Swift boost her record label’s share price?

---

‘This is a land that is all about giving people a go’

---

PTSB most exposed Irish lender to competitive threat from Spanish move into market

---

Stella Li of Chinese car maker BYD: ‘We don’t want to engage in a price war’

---

The series, a live-action version of the Italian animation series Winx Club, was set in Alfea, an “Otherworld” boarding school for fairies and other supernatural beings. Killruddery House, near Bray, became the exterior for the school, while other Wicklow locations used by the show’s producers included Bray Head, the Powerscourt Estate and Avoca.

Interior scenes were filmed at Bray’s Ardmore Studios. Irish-led Olcott Entertainment last year sold Ardmore, alongside Limerick’s Troy Studios, to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management, and it is now part of Hackman’s international studio operator MBS Group.

Fate: The Winx Saga – which starred Abigail Cowen, Hannah van der Westhuysen, Precious Mustapha, Eliot Salt and Elisha Applebaum – ran for 13 episodes in total. The seven-episode second season debuted on Netflix in September and stayed in the platform’s top 10 for five weeks.

However, the streaming service has become more proactive in recent years when it comes to axing shows.

This was one of the first Netflix series to be located in Ireland. It was also on board the Troy-filmed science fiction thriller Nightflyers, originally developed by US network Syfy, which ran for one season.

Netflix has since based Vikings: Valhalla at Ashford Studios in Wicklow, while two Netflix films – Cartoon Saloon’s animation My Father’s Dragon and Element Pictures’ Emma Donoghue adaptation The Wonder – will be added to its platform over the coming weeks.