It's been over five years since Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet aired its last episode, with creator Victor Fresco opening up about the abrupt way he learned of the show's cancellation.

The series debuted in 2017, starring Drew Barrymore as Sheila, a charming real estate agent in Santa Clarita, California, who lives and works with her husband Joel (Timothy Olyphant).

While their lives seem idyllic on the surface, they both are protecting a bizarre secret: Sheila is actually a zombie with a craving for human flesh.

The show - which also starred Liv Hewson and Skyler Gisondo - received strong reviews and it was picked up for a subsequent second and third seasons.

However, Netflix has been known to cancel shows after three seasons in the past, and Fresco admitted to having an 'inkling' they may be out the door. 

Fresco told The Guardian that he found out in a strange way, when the sets built for the show were being dismantled around him during post-production of Season 3.

'We had an inkling it might not come into a fourth year. We didn’t want to make it easier for them to cancel us. We thought "Why are we doing their work for them?"' Fresco said.

So he enacted a bold strategy at the end of Season 3 - set up a cliffhanger, revealing that Joel had in fact turned into a zombie as well.

Still, the strategy didn't work, as Fresco admitted to being, 'blindsided' when he was in the editing bay for Season 3 when his assistant producer arrived with grim news.

He told them that all of the show's sets were being dismantled, with Fresco adding, 'That’s how I heard it was definitively not coming back.'

Nearly a month after Season 3 debuted on the streaming service, The Hollywood Reporter revealed the show had ended, with the report including a statement from Fresco, who took a somewhat subtle jab at the streamer.

'Netflix took a chance on this odd show and for that we will always be grateful. They were supportive, ever positive, and appreciative of our work. Until about noon today. Still, they were just one phone call away from being a perfect studio. Not bad. Everything ends,' he said.

Fresco added that when the show was starting on Netflix, 'It was explained to us that you don’t have to be popular with everybody. This was one of the appeals: just find a niche audience.'

However, he ultimately realized what many have since then, that, 'you really have, at best, a three-year run,' with the few exceptions being a 'monster hit' like Stranger Things. 

'If you look closely at your deal, you’ll see that there’s a huge disincentive for them to order seasons four and five because they’re really making a big payout then,' he said.

He added that it would be 'really satisfying' to get either a short run of episodes or possiblly a movie to wrap up the story line for fans. 

Fresco started his career writing on hit shows like ALF, Dinosaurs and Mad About You before getting to create his own shows.

He created The Trouble With Normal, Andy Richter Controls the Universe, Better Off Ted and Sean Saves the World.

He most recently returned to Netflix by co-creating Unstable with stars Rob Lowe and his son John Owen Lowe.