Can we talk about the bear in the room pls?
When actors don't show up at awards, when the group seems a bit fragmented to the public eye, when the ratings drop, when the awards stop coming and the noms also become few and far between, when the promotional content is none existant or very poor, when the cast diversifies onto other projects they do show lots of interest in, etc, it shows one clear image: Lack of interest. When lack of interest happens in a show, cancellation follows.
However, the showrunner can avoid the cancellation by ending it of their own accord. A show that needs to be "saved" is a liability for any network. And after S3, The Bear was giving more chances. S5 will not officially be announced as the last one till they finish shooting it, and the network approves the ending to be aired, which is a burocratic process unless the showrunners have full leisure, which seems to be the case here, so Storer can do whatever he wants with his characters. He's never made any formal announcements on whether the seasons were renewed or not before, he's not gonna start now. Those announcements always came from the network itself, and then distributed by the media outlets who could quote the official source as being FX. FX won't announce anything till June because otherwise ppl may lose interest and not even tune in then to watch S5. They wanna avoid the: "what's the point?" sentiment, and that's a business decision.
JLC is not a reliable source or, in the past. changes of mind that Storer had, based on what FX offered him, have made her look unreliable. But what's realiable are the facts that show an encreasing lack of interest in the show, a lack of promo, a lack of momentum, and a decrease in ratings, noms and awards. That usually leads to only one well-known outcome in the industry.
As long as I get my sydcarmy endgame ASAP, I don't mind either outcome, though,
BUT looks like I have better chances of getting it if I take an objective look at the facts and TL presented before me since 2024 to present day, and draw the obvious conclusion: This is gonna be no exception, but the official announcement will not be prematurely made to protect the final season. We don't even have a trailer yet.
S5 looks like the series finale since the protagonists' breakthrough point (Syd getting her dream spot and winning a 🌟, Carmy wanting to change bc he realized all the things that have been fucking him up throughout his life need to be addressed ASAP and he understood that it was not sustainable in the long run not to do a 180, if he wanted to have a fulfilled life both individually and also as part of his family, he has finally reconciled with by now) was the point of the plot they got to in S4's season finale.
Plot twist: they both come to the realization in S5 that they should be careful with what they wish for because now that they got what they thought they wanted, unless they have each other and are together, they won't be really happy anyway, and THAT'S THE SYDCARMY ENDGAME RIGHT THERE). What matters are the people, THEY are the people. They are each other's person.
We shouldn't be worried as to when the series finale is gonna be, we should be focusing on getting a happy ending for Syd and Carmy whenever that ending comes. I want it to come ASAP, some want it later, but we all should want the same thing.
My approach about it is less idealistic and more fact-driven, that's all. The Bear is not Industry, or other shows with current momentum, thus it can't be compared to them. It has never taken long hiatuses like Stranger things, or Euphoria, etc. The Bear is a show that lost momentum almost 3 years ago, has not regained it yet, and ppl started to resent it bc its showrunner strung along storylines that were central to it and sidelined them or put them in the freezer, and those were vital for the fans to remain engaged, plus competition was ruthless with it and critics let go of its hand after this.
So, it's kinda like a no-brainer. That's the perfect storm for any show to end of its own accord to avoid cancellation.
As I said yesterday here, the only thing that could change that, is the aftermath of S5. But nothing that happens before.
