Outer Banks fans slam Netflix’s “dumb” release schedule change for final season

Outer Banks fans have taken to social media to chastise Netflix for making a major change to the final season’s release schedule.

Netflix’s sun-soaked teen drama Outer Banks is returning for its last outing just four years after it premiered.

While fans are excited to see how the treasure hunting adventure of John B and friends will end, some can’t get into the spirit due to the streaming service making a massive change to how the season will premiere.

Instead of releasing the final 10 episodes on one day like they did with previous entries, Part One of Season 4 will premiere on October 10, with Part Two dropping on November 7.

Some viewers voiced their displeasure with this setup, as one fan posted on X/Twitter, “It’s so dumb, I just wait till everything drops to binge now. there’s really no point.”

Another wrote, “I’d honestly prefer for them to release one episode per week, if you’re gonna split the season release up you might as well fully commit to it.”

A third viewer summed up everyone’s frustrations with the joke, “We gotta jump the person at Netflix that keep splitting seasons.”

This isn’t the first time Netflix decided to split up a highly anticipated season of a popular show, as they started the tradition with Stranger Things Season 4.

Since then, they selectively chosen projects to release in this manner including Bridgerton Season 3 and Emily in Paris Season 4.

The biggest split Netflix commissioned was with Cobra Kai Season 6, which was separated into a three-part release with what was dubbed “mini-seasons”.

However, Cobra Kai set itself apart from the discourse surrounding this issue, as showrunner Jon Hurwitz explained the show’s final 15 episodes are being used as “three distinctly unique, mini-seasons that tell one super-sized final story.”

While most Netflix users may not like this release model, it won’t be going anywhere any time soon, as it has proved to be quite successful.

Bridgerton Season 3 confirmed this, with Deadline reporting the series amassed 5.7 billion owned impressions, which made it the third most popular project on the English list.

For more, check out our guide to the best TV shows of 2024 so far and all of the TV shows to watch in September.