Before people used to lambaste Netflix for its low-quality programming, they used to deride the streamer for constantly cancelling series, and news from Apple TV Plus continues to illustrate how the latter streamer is better at catering for fans of its shows.
Apple TV Plus has just announced that it's bringing back sci-fi show Invasion for a third season, starting on Friday, August 22 with weekly episodes. It confirmed the news with three teaser images and we'll probably see a trailer later in the month.
While the best Apple TV Plus shows tend to be very well received, frequently enjoying Rotten Tomato scores in the high 80s and 90s, Invasion is one of its worst-received shows. Its first season has 48% on the review aggregate while season 2 has 67%, for a 57% average (the audience score is a little lower, at 50%).
Fans and critics have slated it for being too slow, even if it's been picking up steam as the story gets going in later episodes.
If a Netflix show you were streaming got a 50% RT score, it'd need incredibly high viewer numbers for the streamer to bring it back — it frequently cancels popular shows for failing to find 'enough' success. In 2025 alone, we've seen the loss of new shows like Pulse, Territory and The Residence and older hits like The Recruit, Six Nations: Full Contact and Tour de France: Unchained.
I imagine that if Invasion was released on Netflix, it would've been cancelled after only a single season. Instead, we're getting a third season that represents a culmination of storylines in the first two, and there's no telling if this third season will even be the final one.
Famously, TV shows often need a few seasons to find their footing before the best seasons arrive, and that just doesn't happen on Netflix with the streamer too eager to cancel.
Thankfully, it does happen on Apple TV Plus, as the streamer has proven willing to continue shows even if they don't become immediate successes, and that's doubly important for the streamer as it doesn't have as much of a dedicated audience as Netflix.
I've been surprised to see decent shows like Sugar, Criminal Record and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters get updated as, even though they've been well-received, they haven't exactly become hits amongst non-Apple subscribers.
This likelihood of a renewal means that creators can take bigger risks and tell bigger stories on Apple TV Plus. I've been enjoying watching Foundation season 3 (debuts on the streamer on Friday, July 11) because the creators have been given a multi-season scope to tell a big story. I'm also glad that it's given something like Bad Monkey the opportunity to return, even though that story didn't necessarily need a continuation, and was waiting with bated breath for The Studio season 2 to get greenlit (which it was, thankfully).
In fact, I don't think I can name a single one of the Apple TV Plus series that I've really enjoyed, that haven't been renewed for a second season (and lots that I've been on the fence about, are also being brought back, and I'll give them a second chance).
It's not just Netflix that's become too eager to cancel shows, with Prime Video recently waving by prematurely cancelling its well-received fantasy saga The Wheel of Time and Disney Plus axing both Shardlake and Extraordinary (not counting its Marvel and Star Wars shows, which have generally run their course naturally).
Clearly, the streaming TV economy doesn't support returning shows very well, which is a real shame for fans of long-running stories, and you could make many valid points about this being a worry for the long-term health of the medium. But if you do want to enjoy series with a good likelihood that they'll return for more, then an Apple TV Plus subscription sounds like a good idea.
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