First Kill

Fandom
Name:	First Kill
Abbreviation(s):
Creator:	Victoria Schwab
Date(s):	2022
Medium:	Television
Country of Origin:	United States
External Links:	First Kill on Wikipedia
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First Kill is a television show based off of a short story by V. E. Schwab. The first episode of the show, "First Kiss" loosely followed the events of the short story, while the rest of the show was a continuation.

It aired on Netflix on June 10th, 2022.

Canon

The show follows Calliope Burns, who comes from a monster-hunting family, and Juliette Fairmont, a vampire from a powerful legacy family, and their developing relationship and the growing conflict between their families and within the town they live in. The show has a semi-"the supernatural is known" approach to world-building.

Main Characters

• Calliope "Cal" Burns
• Juliette Fairmont
• Talia Burns
• Margot Fairmont
• Apollo Burns
• Theo Burns
• Elinor Fairmont
• Jack Burns
• Sebastien Fairmont

Cancellation

In August 2022, Netflix announced that First Kill had been cancelled and would not return to wrap-up the cliffhanger the show was left on. The show ended with Cal and Juliette estranged, which made the cancellation even worse for many fans.

This cancellation came at a time where fan and media attention in what seemed to be a growing pattern of cancellations of sapphic-led shows began to gain more traction and it is one of the shows which is often named when the overall pattern is discussed. Black sapphic fans were especially devastated by the cancellation, given how rare it was to have a Black sapphic lead in a show such as First Kill.

As with many sapphic-led shows, the promotion for First Kill had been lackluster by Netflix and many fans felt that, in hindsight, Netflix had already planned to cancel First Kill after one season regardless of how it performed, particularly as it outperformed other shows which were renewed. It also came out between Volumes 1 and 2 of Season 4 of Stranger Things and in the same month as The Umbrella Academy, both shows with supernatural elements with much larger, established fan-bases and bigger budgets.

Unfortunately, First Kill's untimely cancellation reveals that corporations are not inclined to fight for sapphic media. It's likely an unfortunate result of the crossover between homophobia -- and the idea that queer media is only of interest to queer people -- and the notion that stories about women are less important than those about men. If given a second season (which would have likely provided a higher budget) First Kill could have grown its fan base beyond what it already had. Despite its high viewership, growing fan base and place on Netflix's Top 10, First Kill never stood a chance against Netflix's model for cancelation.

Sophia Schrock - CBR https://www.cbr.com/first-kill-cancel-streaming-problem-netflix/

Fandom

Due to the two main characters being in a canonical, sapphic pairing, the fandom of First Kill is very sapphic-focused. Post-season one continuations are also fairly common given the cancellation of the show on a cliff hanger. The fandom on Tumblr and AO3 has grown less active since the cancellation, but there are still weekly posts to both as of September 2023.

would like to thank first kill for accurate queer rep like two lesbians running away with each other two days after they met, a lesbian and a gay boy being best friends and kissing each other before they figured themselves out, “i can excuse my teen daughter bringing a vampire into the house but i draw the line at her having a girl in her room w the door shut”, and a kid wearing a my chemical romance shirt

mag200 

I really thought first kill was going to be about two girls who fell in love and then realised they were on opposite sides of a fight, but to have them know before and yet they still fall in love? Big power move from this show.

fuck-off-im-ace 

Shipping

The most popular ship is the canon pairing Calliope Burns/Juliette Fairmont, also known as Calliette. The next two largest romantic pairings, Talia Burns/Margot Fairmont and Carmen/Oliver Fairmont, are rare-pairs by comparison. However, familial and platonic relationships are often included within many fanworks.

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fan fics

• i am the monster you created by conefire - A season two continuation with angst and longing.

Fanvids

• Juliette & Calliope | DON'T BLAME ME (S1) by SunnyVids

Archives and Communities

• First Kill (TV 2022) on Archive of Our Own
• r/FirstKill on Reddit
• firstkillcentral on Tumblr
• First Kill Wiki on Wikia