"Of all the characters I've ever been, Sheila Hammond is one of my favorites," Drew Barrymore said of her character
Netflix’s series Santa Clarita Diet is dead and it is is not coming back to life!
The streaming platform announced the show is canceled Friday night. The announcement comes just after the season three premiere on March 29.
“The world has never known a ‘zom-com’ until Santa Clarita Diet, and we’re indebted to creator Victor Fresco for bringing this idea to Netflix,” Netflix said in a statement of the show, starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“To their endless credit, the incredible Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant were totally game, with an uncanny knack for comedy that brought Sheila and Joel Hammond to vibrant life, even though one of them was undead,” the statement continued.
Santa Clarita Diet follows married realtors Sheila (Barrymore, 44) and Joel (Olyphant, 50) as they raise their daughter in Santa Clarita, California.
The family appears to have a normal life until suddenly Sheila suddenly dies and transitions into a flesh-eating zombie that looks and feels better than ever.
“We’re grateful to Victor, Drew, and Timothy, along with fellow executive producers Tracy Katsky, Aaron Kaplan, Chris Miller and Ember Truesdell and the terrific cast, including Liv Hewson and Skyler Gisondo, and crew for three hilarious seasons for Netflix members to discover for years to come,” the statement read.
Katsky also spoke to Hollywood Reporter of the show’s cancellation explaining, “Like our audience, we were all-in on Sheila and Joel.”
“Their relationship, in the face of incredible adversity, was inspiring to write and to watch. Mostly, they were funny, which in comedy is important.”
“Netflix took a chance on this odd show and for that we will always be grateful,” Katsky explained in the statement.
However, the cancellation was clearly a shock to Katsky also.
“They were supportive, ever positive, and appreciative of our work. Until about noon today. Still, they were just one phone call away from being a perfect studio. Not bad. Everything ends. This was a thing. And so it ended.”
Fresco explained the series had so much left to explore.
“There’s always more story. The whole season one took place over two weeks and season two takes place over two weeks, so they’re still only about a month into this incredible change that they’re going through,” Fresco said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Barrymore, who was also an executive producer on the show echoed Katsky’s sentiments telling the Hollywood Reporter and Deadline, “It was an honor to get to do something so delightful.
“Of all the characters I’ve ever been, Sheila Hammond is one of my favorites,” Barrymore told the outlet.
“I loved working on this show. I’m going to continue coming in and doing scenes. If they don’t want to film it, that’s up to them,” Olyphant who was also an executive producer told the outlets.
Barrymore previously told PEOPLE her role on the show was “liberating“
“It was really fun to be her,” Barrymore said at the show’s premiere in 2017. “I’m so into the awesomeness of Sheila’s wrongness, or living in her id or saying whatever she thinks or feels.”
RELATED: Drew Barrymore Felt a ‘Responsibility’ to Lose 20 Lbs. for Santa Clarita Diet: ‘No Excuses’
The show aired as Barrymore was experiencing major changes in her real life.
She and her husband Will Kopelman split in 2016 after four years of marriage. The couple share daughters Olive, 6, and Frankie, 5.
“She’s going through like a real feminist empowerment moment, albeit, it’s inappropriate,” Barrymore mused of her onscreen character. “But it was really fun to be her, and she totally gave me a wakeup call in my own life.”
A rep for Barrymore did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.