I'm starting to lose interest in Netflix. Things I really like get cancelled early, most of their original movies are awful and they're losing their best catalog shows like Parks & Rec and the Office. I've always been a fan of the 6-7 season model for television though and that's not their current business model. It already sucked to wonder if a show you like is going to get the boot because of some unknown algorithm but now it sucks even more knowing the show you like that did get renewed might still get the boot.
They can't shoot because of Covid and the actors have contracts to start shooting other things. Its not really so much a Netflix thing as its a Covid thing
They could shoot now - they're filming shows and movies with close contact action scenes and bigger set pieces right now. Sure Covid led to them having to make this decision but Netflix could've extended the options they have on the actors to complete filming at a later date - they probably had to do that for Stranger Things. They chose not to because it's not as popular as Stranger Things and they didn't want to incur the additional cost of delaying it. It's been reported they did pay the cast for the full season so I'm guessing they want to use studio space to film other things they are prioritizing. I imagine the backlog for filming is pretty big for every studio. It's clearly not a priority for Netflix which is fine. It's a business and they didn't deem the return on finishing filming for S4 worth the cost. I stand by my original post - fuck Netflix.