Nancy Drew (CW)

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Fandom
Name: Nancy Drew
Abbreviation(s): ND
Creator: Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz, and Stephanie Savage
Based on Nancy Drew by Edward Stratemeyer
Date(s): October 9, 2019 – present
Medium: TV show
Country of Origin: USA
External Links: Official Website, Wikipedia, IMDB
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Nancy Drew is a new CW television series based off of the character/book series of the same name. This version of the series modernized the series and introduced supernatural elements such as ghosts.

Canon

After the death of her mother, Nancy Drew's plans for college and her love for investigations both went off-track. Then, one night, she and her co-workers at the Claw restaurant get caught up in the investigation of Tiffany Hudson's murder as suspects and, however reluctant Nancy is to get involved, she has little choice if she plans to clear her name. The investigation gets a little more complicated when supernatural elements start to become all the more apparent.

Main Characters

  • Nancy Drew
  • Georgia "George" Li-Yun Fan
  • Ned "Nick" Nickerson
  • Bess Turani Marvin
  • Ace

Major Characters

  • Carson Drew
  • Ryan Hudson

Cancellation

On October 26th 2022, it was announced that Nancy Drew had been cancelled and the fourth season would be its final one[1]. Later, during the final season's airing, director Larry Teng, posted on Twitter about how the cast and crew did not know about the cancellation until episode 4.10 and alluded that this shaped the final episodes as they were re-written to allow for a satisfactory conclusion to the series at short notice[2]. A number of fans in the subreddit r/NancyDrewCW felt that it was overly optimistic — even naive — for the show-runners to not have anticipated a cancellation[3] given the mass cancellations happening across The CW ahead of the Nexstar Media acquisition of the network[4].

I think they were hoping for a miracle instead of planning for a potential ending. It's such a disservice to the fans.

[1]

I think, once the rumblings of The CW being sold were being talked about, I'm not saying they needed to change everything to assume it's the final season, but they should have been prepared in case it was.

[2]


However, other fans pointed out that the cancellations under Nexstar were very different to how The CW had handled cancellations and so it was understandable that the show-runners and the writers believed they would get a fifth season before Nexstar acquired The CW:

Nancy Drew got an early renewal (with the other bigger hits like Winchesters All American Superman & Lois etc) + a Tom Swift spinoff pickup so things were looking fine & like the CW prioritized the show when they initially announced

...


I have no idea what the inside gossip was at the time, but basically in CW history, they’d NEVER cancel a show without telling them it’s the final season, so I think all the renewed shows assumed they’d have known if it was the last & that they’d at least get 1 more.

Nexstar management was diff tho and didn’t care about that because they just wanted to stop investing in shows asap and get it off the books

[3], [4]

Fandom

The fandoms on both Tumblr and AO3 throughout the four seasons leaned towards focusing on the will-they-won't-they relationship between Nancy Drew and Ace. This ship was also popular and discussed widely on other platforms, but not to the same degree; Reddit, for example, had prolonged periods of focusing more on "what do you think..." theorising about supernatural elements and other aspects of the show.

Shipping

Duaric

Duaric or F/M ships are the most popular ships within the fandom generally and especially on AO3 where, as of August 2023, 1,094 out of 1,311 works are marked as F/M.

Sapphic

Although Bess Marvin in canonically sapphic, F/F is uncommon on AO3, having 61 out of 1,311 works categorised this way as of August 2023.

Achillean

Achillean pairings are rare in the fandom, with 33 out of 1,311 works categorised this way.

Criticism of sapphic relationships in the show

Ahead of season four, fans of Bess Marvin pointed out that her character and particularly her relationships fell victim to a common problem with LGBT+ characters in shows; as Bess was the only sapphic character in the main cast, while the other main characters had ongoing romantic story-lines with each other (Nancy/Ace, George/Nick), all of Bess's romantic relationships were with side characters[5] and this tended to result in her having less well-established side-stories for episodes at a time, especially after her relationship with her (newly found) family, the Marvins, broke down in season two.

Opinions were also mixed about one particular romance, in season two, where Bess became romantically involved with a ghost, Odette Lamar, while Odette was inhabiting George's body.

Bess having an almost-relationship with the ghost possessing George, named Odette, did thrust her love life into a major plot line and made it relevant, but at what cost? It still was only brought up every few episodes, and it’s not like Bess and Nick could do a time-share with Odette and George, so it was never going to be a long-term relationship either. The entire time they’re having their flirtatious relationship, everyone in the Drew Crew continues to tell Bess how wrong it is, until George finally allowed her one kiss with Odette before she locked herself away in George’s soul forever. This final kiss felt more like a bone thrown to those who ship Bess and George, which is a small ship that’s gained traction over the show’s two year history, rather than the end of an epic Romeo and Juliet-type love.

Anna Govert - Fansided

Many fans like Odette's character and enjoyed Leah Lewis's acting, switching between George and Odette and embodying the character of Odette well, but were less than thrilled about the direction the show had chosen to take with their only LGBT main character, especially given the fact that the show made it clear that nothing long-lasting could come out of it.

Odette still only really lasted one season, and having Bess fall in love with a character who doesn’t even exist most of the time is perfectly symbolic of what the show keeps getting wrong with her love interests.

thebeastofblackmoor

The fact that the sapphic pairings tagged on AO3 suffer badly from being background tagged (only ~30 works remain once the works focused on F/M pairings or crossovers focused on characters from other fandoms entirely) has also been a source of frustration for some fans.

Fanworks

  • a good life by anathebookworm, Nancy & Ryan, Ryan/Lucy, And so that was what he did. He held his daughter, Lucy’s daughter, for the very first time in his life. AKA the time travel fix-it fic no one asked for. (Post 1x16)

Archives & Fannish Links

Canon Resources


  1. ^ Nancy Drew to End With Season 4; EPs Promise ‘Worthy and Resonant Payoff’ - TV Line
  2. ^ Tweets from @larryteng [1] [2] - saved at r/NancyDrewCW
  3. ^ How did they not know it’d be the final season? - Discussion are r/NancyDrewCW
  4. ^ Local TV Giant Nexstar Seals Deal to Buy 75 Percent Stake in The CW, Reshaping Broadcast Landscape - The Hollywood Reporter
  5. ^ Nancy Drew’s Bess Marvin deserves better - Fansided
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