Brendon Small on why Adult Swim cancelled Metalocalypse

Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small has explained why he thinks his series never got its final season on Adult Swim.

The show about fictional death metal outfit Dethklok first aired on the cable network in 2006. But Small’s plans to wrap up the popular show were turned down by the channel in March 2015.

The move led fans to form Metalocalypse Now – a campaign to encourage Hulu and Adult Swim to co-fund Metalocalypse: The Army of the Doomstar – The Final Chapter.

But despite securing $2 million from backers, Adult Swim still passed on the opportunity. And Small thinks the campaign rubbed someone at Adult Swim up the wrong way – and that’s why a final season was refused.

Small tells Loudwire: “There was no debate, there wasn’t even a return phone call – it was a hard ‘no.’ It was about as hard as you can possibly get, which is kinda strange.

“Look, show business is show business – I can’t really complain about it. What I need to do, what’s important for me to live my creative life, is to stand back and look and go, ‘Hey, I had a pretty good run at this show.’

“Someone was probably going to do this show before me and they were going to screw it up in some way, so I’m glad I got there first and I’m glad I did it the way I thought it needed to be done, so I’m lucky.”

Reflecting on why he thinks Adult Swim passed on a season finale, Small points to the Metalocalypse Now campaign and says: “What I think really happened was they drove Adult Swim insane – and I think Adult Swim for some reason took it personally.

“The truth was that people were saying, ‘Hey, what the hell? Where’s our show?’ And they said, ‘No.’ I think somebody is thin-skinned and somebody got their feelings hurt.”

As for creating further shows for the network, Small adds: “I don’t know if I’ll pitch other shows because I just don’t think I’m on the Adult Swim wavelength right now.”

The 10 best moments from Metalocalypse

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.