Netflix Is Really, Really Sad It Didn’t Pick Up ‘Fleabag’

Amazon is taking the strangest and most exciting swings in streaming TV right now. Forever is brilliant, Undone is transcendently weird, and Too Old to Die Young may have been a mess but, come on, it was at least a very compelling mess. But everything pales in comparison to Fleabag. The second season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's genius series pulled in a whopping 11 Emmy nominations this year and deserves so, so many more.

Fleabag is undeniably the best show on Amazon, but it almost wasn't an Amazon show, at all—and Netflix is really, really sad it missed the chance to pick it up, the Hollywood Reporter reports.

According to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, Netflix was in a bidding war against Amazon for the chance to help adapt Waller-Bridge's one-woman show, Fleabag, for the small screen. But Amazon eventually won out—and it sounds like the loss still stings a bit.

Per the Reporter:

"We got outbid for Fleabag," he admitted, claiming that Phoebe Waller-Bridge's hit Amazon comedy was "the one" that got away.

Of course, both seasons of Fleabag are flawless, but that second season is somehow even better than the first. Who knows how it might have turned out differently helmed by a streaming service that cancels its best shows for being too weird instead of one that lets Channing Tatum run wild with whatever bonkers Soviet buddy cop idea his heart desires.

Amazon was the perfect place for Fleabag, ultimately. But maybe losing the bidding war will teach Netflix a lesson about how taking chances on untested artists can really, really pay off—or the streaming service will just keep throwing money at the Game of Thrones guys.