Dark Shadows: Now it can be told apparently

[Anton Phibes]

So, apparently the real reason Dark Shadows was abruptly cancelled was.....Dan Curtis fired Jonathan Frid. In a memo. He was annoyed Frid wouldn't do a sequel to House of Dark Shadows with totally evil Barnabas. Rather than replace him with the "Barnabas's Secret Brother"storyline (who was going to be a younger, sexier vampire), the show just got canned.

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/monsterkidclassichorrorforum/viewtopic.php?p=1881401#p1881401

[John Pertwee]

I just realized I can finally respond to this.
The show had life left in it, but without Frid as Barnabas it was doomed. Perhaps Curtis realized that and agreed to end it. Like it or not, Frid took over the show the day he started. He took the country by storm.
While replacing Barnabas would have probably been a mistake, it could have been interesting.
They could have gone into a Parallel Time where Barnabas was played by someone else, and was yet to be released by someone. A more evil, and villainous Barnabas that was interested in destroying the current residents of Collinwood, and being sought out by Lamar Trask, Vampire Hunter. Separated from his true love, Angelique, and he finally resurrects her to help him take over Collinwood.

[horrorhunter]

I read that Curtis was getting weary of TV's DS toward the end anyway. Thankfully we got what we did.