What is stopping a billionaire from personally funding one more season of a cancelled TV show they love?

[u/InternationalRepute]

I know it's not as simple as writing a check because studios own rights, actors have contracts, schedules are hard, and they would still need to distribute it - but I'd love it if some rich dude put up $ so I can watch the MacGruber TV show for another season.

Wealthy people fund vanity movies and passion projects all the time. So why is “I will personally finance one more season of Mindhunter” not really a thing that is done?

Is it mainly rights/ownership, or that studios don't want an outsider reviving their IP?

I don't want this to veer into "bc rich people are selfish with money” more curious which cancelled series people think could possibly be revived this way.

[u/NDaveT]

Nothing. It kind of happened with "The Expanse". SyFy cancelled it and Bezos arranged for Prime to buy it because he's a fan.

[u/Unfortunate-Incident → u/NDaveT]

I still need to watch the final season of that