Happy! was an awesome, fun, quirky TV series that aired on SyFy, filled with dark comedy, wacky twists, and an imaginary flying blue unicorn named Happy. Despite having great ratings and support from the audience (8-2/10 IMDb rating), it seems that two seasons are all we’re getting out of the series. So, is Happy! Season 3 happening, or is it canceled for good?
Happy! Season 3 was officially canceled in June 2019 after the producers from SyFy made a project revision and decided to end the series early. It was likely due to a significant drop in viewership ratings, despite having many fans.
Some reports suggest that the drop in viewership from Season 1 to Season 2 was over 50% and that it wasn’t worth it for the producers financially. They cleaned house in 2019, though, as they also canceled Deadly Class, Nightflyers, Channel Zero, and Killjoys. Now, there’s still a bit of hope for Happy! to continue, though. Here’s everything we know.
What’s Happy! About?
For those who don’t know, I’ll make a quick recap of the series and what it was all about.
Happy! was based on a four-issue comic book series written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Darick Robertson. It revolves around a small, funny, quirky blue unicorn named Happy, who happens to be a figment of a child’s imagination – or at least it seems that way.
The series follows Nick Sax, a former police officer who now works as a hitman but wakes up in bad shape in a hospital. As he woke up, he realized that there was this little blue unicorn flying around his head that claimed to be the imaginary friend of a child who was in some serious trouble.
As it turns out, that child was Hailey, Nick’s daughter, who had been kidnapped. At first, Sax and Happy believe it’ll be a simple rescue mission, but as things start to unfold, they realize there’s a much greater conspiracy at play here.
The show is as ridiculous as the premise sounds, with tons of awesome dark comedy, violence, action, and twists. Christopher Meloni plays the lead role of Nick Sax, whereas Patton Oswald voiced Happy the unicorn. Many fans – including myself – enjoyed the show, and the IMDb rating of 8.1/10 is certainly a witness to that.
Is Happy! Season 3 Happening?
There were rumors about Happy! Season 3 was canceled, then returned, then canceled again, but in late 2019, SyFy made it official. On June 4th, 2019, the producers decided to officially cancel the series for good. Although the audience ratings weren’t bad in terms of liking the show, in the end, it just wasn’t worth it for the producers financially to proceed with Season 3.
To put it into perspective, Season 2 of the series dropped by 56% in demographic ratings and around 57% in viewership. The people who watched the show loved it – but there simply weren’t enough people watching. Or, at least, the reports suggest that.
However, there is still hope for Happy! Season 3 to return. The main producers, Universal Content Productions, are actively looking for buyers to sell the rights for the series to someone who’d potentially be interested in producing Season 3.
Now, the show’s two finished seasons were bought by Netflix and are performing quite well. It wouldn’t be the first time for Netflix to buy the rights to a canceled show and successfully revive it. They have done it with Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Gilmore Girls, Trailer Park Boys, etc. – and usually seen great results.
If Happy! continues to perform well; who knows? Maybe Netflix will decide to pull the trigger and produce the new season as well. Now, the only question is, what would it be about, given where things left off at the end of Season 2?
Does Happy! Have An Ending?
Happy! doesn’t really have an ending because Season 3 was abruptly canceled. The ending of Season 2 wasn’t a cliffhanger, per se, and can stand as an ending of its own. However, so many questions are left unanswered, and we’re left wondering “what’s next” for so many different characters.
(WARNING: The rest of the article contains spoilers for Happy! Season 1 and 2. If you haven’t watched it yet and don’t want them spoiled, skip this subheading completely!)
For instance, Nick Sax was possessed by Orcus, the God of Death, to help murder his former accomplice, a sad*stic psycho named Smoothie. However, Smoothie’s eye continued twitching, and given the show’s history of characters coming back to life, the question remains – is Smoothie really dead for good?
After that, Sax – possessed by Orcus – ran out into the wild, and we have no clue what happens to him after that. Happy, on the other hand, falls into a deep depression for not being able to save Sax. However, God comforts him, saying there’s still a way to save Nick. Unfortunately, this is the last time we see Happy on screen, and we have no clue what his next move will be.
Hell, we don’t even know if Happy is really just an imaginary friend, or is he something greater? He displayed some impressive powers that could affect other people, not just those who “imagined” him. Perhaps there’s more to Happy than we thought. Oh, and what about God? Will He interfere? How powerful is He?
Finally, we have no idea what happens to Hailey. Her mom, Amanda, is in jail, and her pops Nick is running around the wild, possessed by a God of Death. Hailey is left with Merry, Nick’s former partner, who promised to protect Hailey.
But, it seems that she is actually a member of the Blue Feather Cult. Near the very end of the Season 2 finale, Hailey vows to find and protect her parents, potentially becoming an assassin for the cult.
There are so many questions left unanswered and so many alleys left unexplored. Fingers crossed that someone (I’m looking at you, Netflix) buys the show and gives fans the Season 3 we all want and deserve.
