2022 was a great year for television. Series likeSuccession,Ted Lasso, andCobra Kaicontinued to grow with each season,Star Warsredefined itself withAndor, and theStar Trekfranchise found new life withStar Trek: Strange New Worlds. It was a great time to be a television fan, as week after week there was something exciting to look forward to. There wereso many great seriesthat nobody could keep up, and Amazon Prime canceled great ones likePaper Girlsand decided to giveA League of Their Owna shortened final season.
However, excitement and anticipation can also lead to disappointment, and there were also several series that dropped the ball. While disappointment does not always equal bad, there were ten television series that had a lot of expectations that did not meet the standard of fans and audiences. These series had famous casts, popular source material, and plenty of potential, but failed to deliver. While there might have been worse series, these are the ten most disappointing shows of 2022, ranked.
10Moon Knight
Moon Knightwas the first MCU Disney+ series that introduced a new character to the franchise. While there is certainly a lot to like in the series, particularly star Oscar Isaacs’s performances as both Marc Spector and Steven Grant,Moon Knightsuffers from feeling both bloated but also filled with a lot of narrative dead air. The series could have been narrowed down to a two-hour film or extended with ten more episodes to delve more into Marc and Steven’s past. The creative flourish of having the lead character black out only to awaken and see the destruction they have caused is fun at first, but its placement in the final episode feels anticlimactic.
9Star Trek: Picard Season 2
While fans certainly are happy withStar Trek: PicardSeason 3, the same cannot be said for Season 2. Season 2 begins with an interesting premise, even if the time travel to the modern-day setting has been done to death in the franchise, the decision can’t help but reek of budgetary restrictions as opposed to a creative vision. The most disappointing part is by the end of the season,Picardhas gotten rid of almost every major character on the series, clearing the board for the third season to seethe return ofThe Next Generationcast. While fans certainly wanted to see the original cast with Picard, it feels disrespectful to the new characters.
8Resident Evil
Resident Evilwas the second major live-action attempt at the franchise, following the successful film series and the 2021 box office bomb rebootResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The series tried to be more faithful to the games, but it led to a rather generic zombie series and one that never quite found a reason to exist other than to extend theResident Evilbrand. The franchise has since gone back to the drawing board as Netflix canceledResident Evilafter one season.
7The Santa Clauses
One might ask how couldThe Santa Clausesbe a disappointment. Did anyone expect anything of it? The first two films are holiday classics for a generation of kids, and seeing Tim Allen return to the role 16 years afterThe Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clausecertainly seemed exciting. With the announcement that David Krumholtz would return and reprise his role as Bernard after being absent from the third film, there were plenty of reasons to be excited.
The final product feels like an experiment on the writer’s part to see what they could get away with until Disney gave them a note, only they never did. Likely because they were too preoccupied withStar Warsand Marvel series. The finished series features the coat being a living being that crawls around the floorlike the Venom symbiote, an entire universe of different Santas called The Santaverse, and an entire retcon to the lore of the franchise established in the first film.
6The Book of Boba Fett
WhileThe Book of Boba Fettpremiered its first episode in the final week of 2021, it aired most episodes in 2022, making it a 2022 series. Fans had wanted to see Boba Fett lead his own project since the character appeared in the 1978The Star Wars Holiday Special. The character made his return in Season 2 ofThe Mandalorianwith the promise of his own series,The Book of Boba Fett. The season was not what fans expected. While the idea to frame Boba Fett as an old king similar to Conan the Barbarian is a fascinating one with thematic value, the entire series felt poorly planned out.
Related:Why The Book of Boba Fett Is the Biggest Disappointment in the Star Wars Franchise
Sticking to a Tatooine setting that felt mandated by budgetary restrictions, odd flashback structures, and devotingtwo entire episodes to focus on the Mandalorianand not feature Boba Fett left audiences baffled. With the talented creative team behindThe Mandalorian, legendary filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, and a character as iconic as Boba Fett, the series overall was a major letdown.
5The Terminal List
The Terminal Listis an adaptation of the Jack Carr novel of the same name. Produced by and starring Chris Pratt,The Terminal Listhad all the makings for an action-packed summer series. However, the series was a rather generic espionage thriller that felt like a more expensive but less entertaining version of a CBS drama. It drew a negative comparison toJack Ryan, a similar series toThe Terminal List,which also aired on Prime Video. Despite being a disappointment, the combination of the series star and viewers was solid enough to get a second-season renewal.
4Blockbuster
If there are two things audiences are nostalgic for, it’s half-hour workplace sitcoms and being able to go to a video store.Blockbusterhad all the makings of a hit television series, including featuring established sitcom stars like Randall Park and Melissa Fumero. The series aired on Netflix, ironic given that the streaming company essentially put the video rental store out of business.Blockbusterpremiered in early November and was quickly rejected by critics and audiences for the simple fact that it was not funny. Netflix killed Blockbuster a second time as the series was canceled after one season.
When it comes to series that overstayed their welcome,The Walking Deadis certainly one that ranks high on the list. At one point, it was must-see TV for millions of households, but starting around Season 8, the series started to dip in viewers (and many would say dipped in quality long before). The much hyped-up final season of the series ran for 24 episodes, and AMC milked it for everything they could by stretching them out for over a year.
Related:The Walking Dead Characters From Season 1 That Survived Season 11
It was split into three parts, with the first batch airing in 2021 and the final two blocks of episodes airing across 2022. By the time the final episode aired on July 28, 2025, it appeared nobody cared. Any impact was negated as plansforThe Walking Deadspin-offsand television movies were already announced.
2The Witcher: Blood Origin
The Witcherhad become an incredibly popular series for Netflix, so it makes sense that they would want to expand the franchise with spin-offs. There are plenty of books and video games to adapt.The Witchercould, in theory, go on for years as a multimedia brand.
The Witcher: Blood Origindisproves that initial thought. The four-episode season aired on Christmas Day 2022, and was quickly forgotten. Anybody who did watch them will likely remember that the show’s emphasis on lore and mythology took precedence over crafting an engaging narrative or making memorable characters.
Halois easily the most disappointing television series of 2022. Based on the popular video game of the same name, fans of the franchise had been waiting to see the series brought to live-action since the mid-2000s. It was originally developed as a feature film before being announced as a television series in 2013. It took nine years to finally arrive, and when it did, it not only appeared far too late afterHalo’sinitial popularity but failed to capture the spark of what made the games so appealing.
From baffling creative decisions to show Master Chief’s face, to cheap production design and an entire season plot line essentially acting as a piece of lore before the events of the main game,Halois an overall disappointment. IfThe Last of UsandThe Super Mario Bros. Movieare signs of video game adaptations done right, thenHalois how they can still go wrong.
