Netflix is bringing Prime Video’s cancelled Alan Tudyk sci-fi series to a new audience.
Netflix has a history of acquiring cancelled shows from other streamers or networks, breathing new life into them. Perhaps the most notable instance of this is when they added the USA Network legal drama Suits to their library in 2023 (four years after it went off the air), which helped propel it to become the most-streamed show over the course of a single Nielsen-measured year. They have also revived a number of cancelled shows, including Lifetime’s You (which earned four additional seasons after becoming a Netflix hit) and NBC’s Manifest (which they renewed for its fourth and final season).
One of the latest shows that they are bringing to their platform is Prime Video’s The Tick, which was the third television series to feature the titular satirical comic book superhero after a 1994 animated series starring Townsend Coleman and a 2001 live-action series starring Patrick Warburton. The Prime Video series starred Peter Serafinowicz in the lead role opposite an ensemble cast that included Griffin Newman, Valorie Curry, Brendan Hines, and Alan Tudyk. While the show ran from 2016 through 2019, it only lasted two full seasons with a total of 22 episodes.
Netflix has revealed that The Tick will be joining their library in the United States and select international territories on July 15, one week after the 2001 series drops on the platform on July 8. At the time of writing, it is unknown if the 2016 series will be leaving the Prime Video library at the same time, or if it will stream on both platforms simultaneously.
Regardless, Netflix will bring The Tick to its biggest potential audience yet. While Prime Video is one of the biggest streaming platforms in the world, Netflix still reigns supreme globally with a reported subscriber count of more than 300 million. It could perform a similar service for The Tick as it did for the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek, a CBC Television series that exploded in international popularity shortly before its final season once its earlier seasons were added to Netflix.
While The Tick has already cemented itself as a cult classic superhero series, it could become definitively popular after dropping on Netflix. Something that could potentially help it connect with audiences is the fact that the first half of 2026 has had a dearth of superhero content on both the big and small screens. While Spider-Noir and the final season of The Boys were well received on Prime Video, one of the only other major superhero projects was the DCU spin-off Supergirl, which is currently struggling to connect with audiences in theaters.
Netflix could swoop in and deliver at-home audiences the breath of fresh air that the overtly comedic The Tick brings to the genre, likely piquing the interest of any superhero-hungry viewers who are still waiting for 2026’s upcoming cascade of major superhero titles, which include Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Clayface, and Avengers: Doomsday.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2019-00-00
- Network
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Prime Video
- Showrunner
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Ben Edlund
- Directors
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Thor Freudenthal, Wendey Stanzler, Wally Pfister, Lev L. Spiro
- Writers
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Ben Edlund
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Geoffrey Cantor
Agent Adams
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Peter Serafinowicz
The Tick

