Warrior Nun’s Cancellation Marks a New Low in Netflix’s Commitment to Killing Good Shows
And another terrible blow for sapphic representation.
Photo Courtesy of Netflix
Well, it happened again. Netflix has canceled Warrior Nun after two seasons, in spite of its record-breaking audience score and constant online buzz. This marks just the latest casualty in Netflix’s pattern of canceling shows with a minority focus, specifically series starring sapphic couples. During a year that has been extremely difficult for queer audience members, this cancellation feels like the final nail in the streamer’s progressive reputation, adding another headstone to its graveyard of axed queer shows.
In November, Warrior Nun’s second season premiered on Netflix to little fanfare. It debuted to very few reviews (my own being one of only two reviews to show up on Rotten Tomatoes with the embargo lift on its release day) and virtually no promotion from the streamer, which was even confirmed by showrunner Simon Barry, who later tweeted that “$0 [was] spent on promotion” from Netflix. Being sandwiched between the releases of two blockbuster hits, Manifest and Wednesday, just weeks before and after the series’ premiere made keeping Warrior Nun within the Top 10 difficult, leaving its peak at #5. Despite its viewership being less than groundbreaking, the series’ three-week hold within the Top 10 was impressive considering both the promotional circumstances and the competition it was facing.
While many of Netflix’s deceased series have had dedicated fanbases in the past, Warrior Nun’s legion of queer fans feels unique. When they noticed the lack of promotion from the series, they took to Twitter and TikTok to start spreading the word about the series themselves. The fans were so loud, in fact, that they convinced Buzzfeed A*Pop (the company’s Asian-focused editorial account) to interview Warrior Nun star Kristina Tonteri-Young for long and short form content on their channel, and have been sharing any article written about the show like it was their job. Still, the task of convincing others to watch this series has not been an easy one, and that is due simply to Netflix’s track record, and the lingering wounds that are still open from one cancellation after another this year.
When the second season dropped, many fans found themselves faced with pushback from potential viewers, many of them insisting that they would watch the series after it was already renewed. Though, as any TV viewer will know, people have to watch a series in in the first place for it to be renewed, so Netflix’s negative impact on Warrior Nun’s reception was two-fold: spending no money on the promotion of the series will limit its reach to a more general population, and Netflix’s own track record of cancelling queer series stunts its growth within queer spaces as well. YouTuber Ashley Ippolito, known as “ur internet mom ash” on the platform, even tweeted in response to the many requests to react to the series on her channel by saying: “i can’t watch and get attached just to have it ripped away from me and get cancelled I CANT GO THROUGH IT AGAIN,” which mirrored the attitude of many queer viewers.
With a fanbase that dedicated and loud, it’s no surprise that “#SaveWarriorNun” began trending almost immediately after the announcement, but unfortunately the chances of the series getting picked up by another network or streamer are very slim. Even though a network like SYFY or a streamer like Prime Video would be great potential homes for the series, Netflix’s contracts reportedly limit how and when a show can air elsewhere. After One Day at a Time was canceled, it was revealed that Netflix contracts stipulate that a show cannot air on any other streamer for two to three years after it is canceled by Netflix. This waittime is a death sentence for any show wanting to pick up and move somewhere else, as the memory of Warrior Nun will have faded by the time it’s eligible to be saved. However, while the details of Warrior Nun’s contract and stipulations are unknown, One Day at a Time was able to be saved by a traditional network merely a few months after the cancellation, with Deadline reporting that the series had less restrictions on the broadcast front specifically. Though it’s unlikely that Warrior Nun has a similar stipulation, as Netflix has probably locked its shows down even more in the time since ODAAT was canceled, it seems like the only shred of hope left for an audience clamoring to overcome the series’ cliffhanger ending.
Said cliffhanger, which featured Ava sent to the Other Side to heal from her fatal wounds and an impending “Holy War” teased by Lilith, was another Netflix requirement, one that has been seen across numerous Netflix Originals that are often left unfulfilled after cancellation. Barry told Variety that Season 1’s cliffhanger, which was even more frustrating than Season 2’s, was encouraged by Netflix: “They were like ‘Hey, what if you cut this a little short?’” Season 2’s finale does offer a little more closure, or at least a hint at what was to come, with the post-credit scene featured in the final episode, but that was almost cut as well on Netflix’s insistence, as Barry told AngeChats on YouTube.