11 Years Later, We Still Don’t Know Why Victoria Justice and Ariana Grande’s Sitcom “Victorious” Was Discontinued After 4 Seasons

Wicked is not Ariana Grande’s first foray into the world of acting. She got her big break in the industry with a sitcom on Nickelodeon called Victorious. Also starring Victoria Justice and Elizabeth Gillies, the show was a success, appealing to the teenage audience that tuned in every week to watch the story continue.

Much like Disney, Nickelodeon has also been a launchpad for numerous actors who broke ground in the industry through these networks and eventually gained widespread recognition. Here’s everything we know about Victorious and the probable causes that led to its untimely cancellation.

What is Victorious About?

Featuring a budding singer in Victoria Justice, the sitcom follows Tori, a passionate artist who wishes to get out of her sister’s shadows. Stars align for her when she is admitted to a performing arts high school. There, she meets people from all walks of life, but mostly rich elites who have the money to throw away if they’d like, and makes amazing new friends.

The show was a trope to show teenagers how difficult high school life can be and other realities that differentiated it from hazy dreams of freedom and booze. The immense hard work and dedication it took to be successful was aptly showcased. Victorious became the reason we know Ariana Grande, Justice, and Elizabeth Gillies as we do today.

Why was Victorious canceled?

Nickelodeon decided to discontinue the show in February 2013 much to the fans’ disappointment. It is believed that the network canceled the show since it believed 60 episodes was a decent and profitable run for a teen show, much like Disney cancels shows before they touch 100 episodes. Though no concrete reason was given for this untimely turn of events, the channel only put out a standard statement to announce the same,

Nickelodeon will not be moving forward with production on a fourth season of Victorious following the final season that will premiere this fall. We are very proud of the show, its very talented cast, and our audience will continue to see many of them in upcoming new Nickelodeon projects.

The most upsetting part was the show not getting the proper finale it deserved. Victorious ended mid-way without the story capping off on any major aspect or character trajectory. The third season was split into two parts to give a more cohesive view of the story, ultimately giving Victorious a total of 4 seasons. Fans held out hope for closure with a renewal or a reboot, but nothing of the sort has happened yet. Addressing the same, Justice told Collider,

And to be honest, I thought that the show was for sure going another season. There was no doubt in my mind we were gonna go another season. So I was honestly just as shocked as everyone else. Of course I would have loved for our show to have an epic finale because I think that it did deserve that and I think it would have been so epic and really, really fun. But life goes on and I’m just so grateful that so many people did love the show and to this day still watch the show.

A widely believed reason for the show’s cancellation popped up when Grande claimed a cast member decided to do a solo tour instead of a cast tour. She claimed so in a social media post which has been deleted since then. Fans were quick to deduce that she was talking about Justice, who was all set to go on tour.

However, in 2015, Justice clarified that the decision to cancel the show was entirely dependent on the Nickelodeon executives and she had no part in deciding the fate of the series. Thus, a probable rift between Grande and Justice was marked as the reason why Victorious ended.

Victoria Justice gave closure to Victorious fans with future predictions

Back when Victorious was thriving on television, Tumblr was making waves in the social media domain. So, when the untimely cancellation of Victorious was announced, Justice took it upon herself to tell fans how the show could have ended.

In a Tumblr post, the actress shared how she envisioned the ending of the show and what all the characters could be doing by the end of it.

• Tori: “Tori gets signed to a record deal and becomes a pop star. She then goes out on a headlining tour.”
• Andre: “He also gets signed to a record deal and not only is super successful as a recording artist but also as a writer/producer. His albums go multi-platinum.”
• Trina: “Trina is looking to marry a prince (because that’s what she feels she deserves), so she auditions and gets accepted to the new season of The Bachelor, where England’s Prince Harry is the new bachelor (poor Harry).”
• Beck: “He keeps auditioning and gets cast in his own series of a high school student who’s also a sociopath. His new show films in another city and he and Jade break up.”
• Cat: “She realizes that she has strong feelings for Robbie, and that it was him along. Cat also starts her own babysitting service with a girl named Sam.”
• Robbie: “He finally says goodbye to Rex after he finds love with Cat. Sometimes he tries to move Cat’s mouth with his hand … she understands and goes along with it.”
• Jade: “Goes on to have a very successful career as Hollywood’s new horror queen.”
• Sikowitz: “Starts a very successful coconut water company.”
• Sin Jin: “Becomes a billionaire because of a new social media online company he started. He gives Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook owner) a run for his money.”

This made fans heave a sigh of relief as they could see the vision of the story and finally know where their favorite characters could have ended up. Some still hold out hope for a renewal or a reboot to which most of the cast has already agreed. It’s up to Nickelodeon to make it happen.

Victorious is streaming on Netflix.