8. First Kill
Finally, the last, and most recent Netflix cancelation, First Kill. The iconic lesbian vampire and vampire hunter duo of Julliette and Cal as they fall into a forbidden romance. It garnered a massive fanbase as news of its LGBT representation spread over social media. People were excited to see sapphics in love on a major streaming program. The story was about a vampire, Julliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) who did not want to follow through with her first kill as part of her vampiric coming of age. Calliope (Imani Lewis) was a monster hunter whose family did not approve of her sudden romantic connection to a vampire. They navigated through their relationship despite their respective parents’ disapproval and became a metaphor for queer people everywhere whose parents did not approve in a similar way. It was an exciting story that should have gotten its much-deserved second season.
7. Daybreak
Daybreak was another tv show adapted from a comic book, this time from the author, Brian Ralph. It was a post-apocalyptic story about a teen exploring his town which has now been separated into different segments, each ruled by a different high school clique. The end of the world was brought on by nuclear fallout which turned all people over the age of 18 into mindless zombie-like creatures. This show dealt with themes of independence, love, and loss. It was canceled after its first season, likely due to not enough viewers. It would have been interesting to see where life took Josh, Angelica, and Wesley next.
6. The Society
The show aired on Netflix in 2019 and has over time garnered a large fanbase. The show was about a group of teenagers who left for a field trip only to wake up the next day in what looked like their hometown minus everyone else: teachers, parents, family, etc. The teens learned to live on their own, rationing food, assigning jobs and making their own government. The show ended with a group attempting to leave town and find new resources as well as a way back home. It was a unique show about independence and collective vs. personal good with many different serious topics discussed such as gun violence, toxic relationships, and losing a loved one. The show was canceled due to the “Covid-19 Impact on the TV and film industry” (digitalspy.com). I for one was sad to see the show canceled and left on a cliffhanger.
5. I Am Not Okay With This
The dark comedy, starring Sophia Lillis and Wyatt Oleff aired in 2020. Sydney Novak (Lillis) struggles with her newfound telekinetic powers and navigating her high school love life. The show was based on a comic book of the same name by Charles Forsman. The show was an amazing story about grief, discovering oneself, and understanding romantic and platonic relationships. This show was another one to be canceled due to Covid-related problems. It is unfortunate to see a show with great lesbian representation canceled before it could be explored more. Not to mention, this was another show that left off on a shocking cliffhanger.
4. Grand Army
The 2020 Netflix Drama followed five Grand Army High students’ stories following a bomb threat near the school. Joey (Odessa A’zion) is a feminist student who advocates for bodily autonomy and fights her school’s sexist standards. Dominique (Odley Jean) struggles to balance school and helping to provide for her family. Sidd (Amir Bageria) struggles with his sexuality in the face of homophobia and trying to appease his parents. Jayson (Maliq Johnson) navigates high school life after his friend was expelled and tried to be a top-performing trumpeter. Leila (Amalia Yoo) tries to figure out who she is as she enters her freshmen year of high school. The show dealt with some pretty serious topics including racism, internalized and external homophobia, sexual assault, poverty, and issues with identity. It was an intense show with lots of important topics discussed and gave a new take on the American high school experience which is not always shown on tv.
3. Everything Sucks
One of my personal favorite shows starring Peyton Kennedy, Jahi Di’Allo, and Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney. It takes place in the 90s following Di’Allo’s character, Luke, as he tries to win over the girl of his dreams (Kennedy) all while making a movie with the theater kids. This show was a wonderful show that dealt with themes of understanding teenage sexuality, discovering oneself, and dealing with the loss of a parent. The romance between Sweeney and Kennedy’s characters was beautiful to watch and I wish we could have seen where it would lead them. The cast included some talented actors, some of which went on to do bigger things (look to Sydney Sweeney).
2. Teenage Bounty Hunters
The teen comedy starring Maddie Phillips and Anjelica Bette Fellini was a story of two twin sisters who stumbled across a bounty hunter after crashing their father’s car. They joined forces with him to make money for the car repairs but quickly fell in love with bounty hunting. The girls went to a Catholic high school but didn’t always fit in so well with everyone else. One amazing thing about this show was how it dealt with discovering sexuality and religious guilt. Sterling (Phillips) discovered her feelings toward fellow classmate and rival, April (Devon Hales), and the pair soon fell for each other. Rarely is a story like this shown: two girls going from enemies to lovers in a religious setting. It was also a surprise to me, as well as many others because the first scene of the show was Sterling having sex with her boyfriend. The decision to change Sterling’s story and go in a different direction for her character was a great choice by the writing team. Apart from that, the story was also left off on another unfortunate cliffhanger and we will never know what happened next for Sterling and Blair.
1. Julie and the Phantoms
If you know this show, you know just how upset everyone was to see its cancelation. This was an amazing musical, comedy tv show about Julie (Madison Reyes) who discovers a ghost band from the 90s living in her garage, but only she can see them. They soon discover that when they play together, the ghosts can be visible to everyone. They form a band together and have an exciting adventure performing together. It discussed topics of grief and loss as well as healing from that loss. It was tearjerking at times as well as hugely funny. There were high stakes in the end, and we as an audience, were left on yet another cliffhanger.
These are just a few of the amazing shows from Netflix that were canceled much too soon. In the future, I hope that Netflix can take a hint from its many viewers and stop canceling some of its best shows before they can even get a chance. Additionally, nearly all of these shows have some sort of queer rep, which was one of the reasons that I started watching them in the first place. LGBT people want to see themselves represented on screen, and these shows were some amazing examples of that before they were unfortunately canceled. We can only hope that Netflix will get better at representation. We are seeing some of that with shows like Heartstopper and Young Royals, but what I want to know is— where’s the good sapphic rep?