“Unstable,” the comedy starring Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe, has been canceled after two seasons on Netflix.
The workplace comedy premiered on Netflix on March 30, 2023, and its second season came on Aug. 1, 2024. It followed Rob Lowe as Ellis Dragon, the CEO and founder of a biotechnology company who struggled after the death of his wife. His estranged son Jackson, who played Lowe’s real-life son, joins the company despite pursuing a career playing the flute. He also helps his father with his mental health and reconnects with him. The show leaned into the meta-ness of the Lowes playing an eccentric father and high-strung son.
“It took doing a TV show with each other for Rob and I to re-explore some of the deeper parts of our interpersonal relationship, so we figured, why not make it so that Ellis and Jackson have to literally play characters in order for them to work through an interpersonal conflict?” John Owen told Variety. “It’s literally a wink at what we’re doing on the show for our father-son relationship.”
Both Lowes were executive producers on “Unstable.” The cast also included Sian Clifford, Aaron Branch, Rachel Marsh, Emma Pilar Ferreira, Fred Armisen, Town Allen, JT Parr, Christina Chang, Lamorne Morris and Iris Apatow. Season 2 ended with Ellis leaving his company and deciding to run for president of the United States.
About a potential Season 3, Rob said, “I can’t wait to see Ellis stumble his way through and probably be kind of brilliant in his own way in just putting together his campaign. I want to see Fred Armisen [who plays Ellis’ live-in therapist, Leslie] running a campaign, maybe Jackson being Bobby Kennedy to Ellis’ Jack Kennedy. We’re very focused on Ellis being super excited about Jackson becoming the first son.”
