Sapphic Show Cancellation Pattern of the 2020s

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See also: LGBT Fans Deserve Better, Sapphic Fandom
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This article documents a currently unfolding situation within the fannish realm. Content may change quickly, and the page structure itself may undergo major revision. New details are very welcome.

Sapphics in fandom have noticed a pattern seemingly occurring during the early 2020s regarding TV series with sapphic representation: that shows of this ilk are frequently and consistantly prematurely cancelled. Often, these shows get no further than the first or second season, though lucky ones have been able to get one or two more.

Comparisons have been made between this pattern and 2016, the year in which every fictional sapphic seemed to be at risk of Bury Your Gays. Though this trope has largely receded, it does still appear occasionally, such as in Killing Eve, which hasn't helped the situation within sapphic fandom.

Typical examples of queerbaiting, though also more uncommon in recent years, also contribute to this distrust between sapphics and the shows they congregate around, such as is argued around Wednesday and the ship Wenclair. Evolved queerbaiting, such as is argued with the likes of Thasmin in Doctor Who, and the blink and you'll miss it moments in several of Disney's foray into sapphic representation, also don't help.

Diva Magazine calls it Cancel Your Gays in one of its articles.[1]

History

Some shows are mentioned more frequently than others, most often those with larger fandoms: Wynonna Earp, The Owl House, Batwoman, Gentleman Jack, The Wilds, First Kill, Warrior Nun, and A League of Their Own pop up often in lists every time another sapphic show gets canned.

2020

2021

2022

2023

Other

  • Willow was initially reported to have been cancelled, however it was clarified that this had been incorrectly reported. Instead, the show was on hiatus, with Jonathan Kasdan stating S2 had been written and hoped it would make it to screen[47]. The situation was further complicated by Disney removing the series from Disney+ mere months after it's release as a cost-cutting measure[48].

Comparisons

Other Queer Shows

Some fans have argued that shows focusing on gay or mspec cis men don't have as much of a problem getting renewed as sapphic ones do. Further discussions have addressed the different ways in which media representation affects the different groups of the queer community.

There have been a number of inter-fandom tensions and arguments over the topic, especially when a streaming service does not promote or advertise their sapphic-led media, which they go onto cancel, but widely promotes an achillean-led media, which is renewed. The tension between the First Kill fandom and the Heartstopper fandom was one notable example of this. Fans of Heartstopper felt as though First Kill fans were blaming Heartstopper for their show's cancellation, fans of First Kill argued that they were simply using Heartstopper as an example of the issues within streaming, and other fans felt that the criticism should be aimed at the streaming services without invoking other shows or their fans.

reminder that we shouldn’t take our anger out on heartstopper, even though its upsetting, the one to blame here is Netflix. heartstopper is an amazing series with good representation and it is just as important as First Kill

tallysescape post on Tumblr, Archived version

I don't understand why heartstopper is getting all the blame for the cancelation of first kill.

Why the sudden hate??

Also, people just need to stop comparing the two shows.

They are awesome in their own ways <3

gypsy-at-universecity post at Tumblr, Archived version

Where the hell are people getting the idea that other people blame Heartstopper for First Kill's cancelation? People are rightfully blaming Netflix, they're just using Heartstopper as an example of how a white mlm show is given a better chance than a wlw show with a black lead.

shinyasahalo post at Tumblr, Archived version

Other non-sapphic focused queer shows are not so lucky in regards to renewal, such as Dead End: Paranormal Park, a show whose queer rep involves the main character being a trans man in an mlm relationship, and the secondary main character Norma Khan being bisexual. The show was cancelled after two seasons.

Fan's Reactions

Many of the cancelled shows – particularly those with larger fandoms mentioned previously – had social media campaigns to try and get them renewed or released to be shopped around to other services or networks. For example: someone on Twitter started a campaign for the renewal of A League of Their Own, here, Archived version, including renting a plane with a banner: link; the original campaign for renewing Wynonna Earp (TV series) contributed to it moving to SyFy for a final season[49], though the campaign for a season 5 was not successful[50]; and the campaign run by the Warrior Nun fandom, which involved international meet-ups, the purchasing of billboards, and other notable actions, drew a lot of media attention.

Successful Renewals

  • Warrior Nun was successfully renewed for three feature films with the help of a fan campaign to #SaveWarriorNun after being initially cancelled in December 2022. Since the announcement, however, uncertainty has grown about the direction any renewal is likely to take and many fans feel they were used by the producer and original creator (See: Warrior Nun #Cancellation and Revival.)
  • Wynonna Earp was picked up by Tubi for a special titled Wynonna Earp: Vengeance, the announcement in February 2024 being nearly four years since the release of the finale in April 2021.

Responses from Streaming Services

Lack of Transparency

In January 2023, Netflix co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, invoked ire from many fans when he made the following statement in an interview[51]:

“We have never cancelled a successful show. A lot of these shows were well-intended but talk to a very small audience on a very big budget. The key to it is you have to be able to talk to a small audience on a small budget and a large audience at a large budget. If you do that well, you can do that forever.”

Ted Sarandos

This explanation (and other, similar ones) for many sapphic shows being cancelled has been repeated in other online spaces in opposition to suggestions that sappic focused shows are being disproportionately targeted. However, due to the lack of transparency[52] from all streaming services about how the calculate what a view is[53], what their threshold for a successful show is[54], and how they generally make decisions about renewals and cancellations[55], there is a lack of information for anyone, fans or show-runners[56] alike, to understand how their shows are performing. There have also been discussions about which sapphic-led shows get green-lit in the first place (do only the ones with more elaborate or expensive premises get the go-ahead?) and the lack of advertising they receive[57] which ultimately plays a hand in the failure.

Shows Removed from Streaming Services

In what many fans believe to be cost cutting measures, there has also been a noticeable increase in shows being removed from streaming services entirely, sometimes within months of the show airing[58]. A number of cancelled sapphic shows have been impacted by this including The L Word: Generation Q, Willow, Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies, Genera+ion, as well as sapphic shows which completed their run like Motherland: Fort Salem.

With some of these shows being originals – that is, made by the streaming service for the streaming service – their removal from the platforms leaves fans of the show without legal options to watch the shows anymore[59]. This only compounds the frustrations of fans of sapphic shows.

It hasn’t even been a full month since season 1 of rise of the pink ladies finished and they’re already canceling it and REMOVING IT FROM STREAMING???? I’m actually crying right now #I fucking hate this trend of streaming services full on removing shows

lizarddealer [60]

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies has since been released on Digital and DVD release.[61]

Media Attention

As more sapphic focused shows were cancelled from 2020 onward, online news outlets began to pick up on the conversations in social media spaces and report on the cancellation patterns. A few articles include:


GLAAD also found, as part of their on-going reporting into LGBTQ+ representation on TV, that 2021-22 it was the fifth consecutive year where lesbian representation declined, a statistic no doubt influenced by the number of cancellations:

"GLAAD also found that this was also the fifth consecutive year in which lesbian representation on streaming declined, adding to a long list of prematurely ended programs about queer women. (As Autostraddle recently cataloged, there have been at least 140 shows featuring lesbian, bisexual, queer and trans characters that only lasted a single season.)"

|GLAAD, Where We Are on TV Report

GLAAD also track the representation in canceled shows, and their 2022-23 report found that 52% of LGBTQ+ characters in canceled shows were queer women, with 31% being lesbian characters[62].

The report also contains the following paragraph:

"It is also worth noting that, as of the design of this report, there are several series with large LGBTQ ensembles that have yet to be canceled or renewed, including Amazon’s A League of Their Own and Harlem, Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q, and Netflix’s Smiley."

Of the four shows referenced, just one, Harlem, has not been cancelled as of August 2023. Given the predominantly queer female casts of A League of their Own and The L Word: Generation Q, this will likely have a big impact on the representation statistics for the 2023-24 report.

Further Information/Meta

References

  1. ^ "The #MoreThanFour campaign shows how much this show means to so many". Archived from the original on 2023-03-23.
  2. ^ "Dominic Patten, "Starz Says Adiós To 'Vida'; GLAAD Media Award Winner To End With Third Season, 18 March 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-07-23.
  3. ^ "Will Thorne, "'Dare Me' Canceled After One Season at USA Network", Variety, 20 April 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  4. ^ "Denise Petski, "'Vagrant Queen' Canceled By Syfy After One Season", Deadline, 26 June 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-10-19.
  5. ^ "Samuel Spencer, "'High Fidelity' Canceled: Why Did Hulu Axe the Show?", Newsweek, 6 August 2020,". Archived from the original on 2023-09-23.
  6. ^ "'Teenage Bounty Hunters' Canceled By Netflix After One Season, 5 October 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-08-11.
  7. ^ "Samuel Spencer, "'Stumptown' Canceled: Why The Show Is Ending Despite Season 2 Renewal", Newsweek, 17 September 2020". Archived from the original on 2020-12-23.
  8. ^ "Samuel Spencer, "'Away' Canceled: Why the Netflix Show is Ending After One Season", Newsweek, 20 October 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-02-03.
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  11. ^ "Denise Petski, 'Wynonna Earp' To End With Season 4 On Syfy", Deadline, 5 February 2021". Archived from the original on 2023-04-24.
  12. ^ "Victoria Moghaddami, "'The Baker and the Beauty' Canceled: Here's Why", Popculture, 28 April 2021". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  13. ^ "Spencer Perry, "The Owl House Creator Reveals Why Season 3 Was Cut Short", Comicbook.com, 5 October 2021". Archived from the original on 2023-09-21.
  14. ^ "Ellise Shafer, 'Betty' Canceled at HBO After Two Seasons, Variety, 24 August 2021". Archived from the original on 2023-08-24.
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  19. ^ "Mey Rude, "Producer Lilly Wachowski Speaks Out After Work in Progress Cancelation", Out, 28 January 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-03-30.
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  21. ^ "Kimberly Roots, "Queens Cancelled at ABC", TVLine, 6 May 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-10-17.
  22. ^ "'Dollface' Canceled By Hulu After Two Seasons, Deadline, 10 May 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-08-11.
  23. ^ "Selome Hailu, "'4400' Canceled After One Season at the CW", Variety, 12 May 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  24. ^ "Joe Otterson, "'Naomi' Canceled After One Season at CW", Variety, 12 May 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  25. ^ "Nick Caruso, "Pivoting Cancelled at Fox", TVLine, 13 May 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-12-06.
  26. ^ "Nellie Andreeva, "'Gentleman Jack' Canceled By HBO After 2 Seasons", Deadline, 7 July 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-04-04.
  27. ^ "Nellie Andreeva, "'The Wilds' Canceled By Prime Video After 2 Seasons", Deadline, 28 July 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-04-05.
  28. ^ "Nellie Andreeva, "'First Kill' Canceled By Netflix After One Season", Deadline, 2 August 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-12-01.
  29. ^ "EJ Panaligan, "'Q-Force' Canceled After One Season at Netflix", Variety, 8 August 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-10-12.
  30. ^ "Rick Porter, "'Resident Evil' Canceled After Single Season on Netflix", Hollywood Reporter, 26 August 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  31. ^ "Justine Browning, "Paper Girls canceled by Amazon after 1 season", Entertainment Weekly, 9 September 2022". Archived from the original on 2022-10-14.
  32. ^ "Christy Piña & Lesley Goldberg, "Peacock's 'Queer as Folk' Canceled After One Season", Hollywood Reporter, 23 September 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  33. ^ "Kasey Moore, "'Fate: A Winx Saga' Won't Return for Season 3; Canceled at Netflix", What's on Netflix, 1 November 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  34. ^ "Kasey Moore, "'The Imperfects' Canceled at Netflix; Not Returning for Season 2", What's on Netflix, 8 November 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  35. ^ "Rick Porter, Fox's 'Monarch' Canceled After Single Season", Hollywood Reporter, 7 December 2022". Archived from the original on 2023-08-19.
  36. ^ "Jenna Anderson, Syfy Cancels New Fan-Favorite Series After Just One Season, Comicbook TV, 5 January 2023". Archived from the original on YYYY-MM-DD. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |archivedate= (help)
  37. ^ "Chris Murphy, "HBO Max's Gossip Girl Reboot Canceled After Two Seasons", Vanity Fair, 19 January 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-05-30.
  38. ^ "Vlada Gelman, "One of Us Is Lying Cancelled at Peacock", TVLine, 20 January 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-12-06.
  39. ^ "Andy Swift, "Vampire Academy Cancelled by Peacock After One Season", TVLine, 20 January 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-12-06.
  40. ^ "Lesley Goldberg, "'Reboot' Canceled at Hulu", Hollywood Reporter, 30 January 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-06-04.
  41. ^ "Ellise Shafer, "'The L Word: Generation Q' Canceled by Showtime After Three Seasons; Reboot of Original Series With Ilene Chaiken in Development", Variety, 24 March 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-05-08.
  42. ^ "Denise Petski and Nellie Andreeva, 'Gotham Knights' Canceled By CW After One Season, June 12, 2023". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: flag (help)
  43. ^ "Iona Rowan, "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies has been robbed of its Breaking Bad moment", Digital Spy, 26 June 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-07-01.
  44. ^ "Ellise Shafer, 'A League of Their Own' Creator Abbi Jacobson Calls Blaming Cancellation on Strikes 'Bulls— and Cowardly', Variety, 21 August 2020". Archived from the original on 2023-11-12.
  45. ^ "Rosy Cordero, 'The Rookie: Feds' Canceled By ABC After One Season, Deadline, 9 November 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-12-04.
  46. ^ "BreAnna Bell, 'The Horror of Dolores Roach,' 'Harlan Coben's Shelter' and 'With Love' Canceled at Amazon Prime Video, Variety, November 21 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-12-02.
  47. ^ "Nick Romano, Willow creator clarifies season 2 future after cancellation report: 'The truth is less splashy', Entertainment Weekly, 17 March 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-11-18.
  48. ^ "Denise Petski, 'Willow's Warwick Davis Calls Removal Of Disney+ Series From Streaming Platform "Embarrassing", Deadline, October 16 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-10-24.
  49. ^ "'Wynonna Earp' creator on how the show was saved". {{cite web}}: |archive-url= is malformed: flag (help)
  50. ^ "Save Wynonna Earp: #BringWynonnaHome". Archived from the original on 2021-02-07.
  51. ^ Netflix CEO faces backlash for wild comments on cancelled show - Pink News
  52. ^ Why Streamers Are Stalling on Sharing Data - The Hollywood Report
  53. ^ Netflix has changed the way it counts viewers – does it matter? - The National News; How Will We Know Who’s Winning Streaming War if Every Service Counts Views Differently? - The Wrap
  54. ^ An Industry of Secrecy: Why Streaming Companies Hide Viewership Data - Arts Managment & Technology Laboratory
  55. ^ ‘A League of Their Own’ fans are frustrated by the show’s early cancellation—and so is the showrunner - daily dot
  56. ^ Steven Soderbergh Is Deeply Concerned About Lack of Data Transparency From Streaming Services - Collider; ‘I Don’t Know How My Show Is Doing’ - Vulture
  57. ^ Warrior Nun Thrives on Netflix Despite Having a $0 Promotion Budget - CBR
  58. ^ "Michael Sun, Why are movies and TV shows disappearing from streaming services?, The Guardian, 28 June 2023". Archived from the original on 2023-08-30.
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  60. ^ "lizarddealer post at [[Tumblr]]". Archived from the original on 2023-12-06. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  61. ^ Return to Rydell High With 'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies' DVD Release
  62. ^ Where We Are on TV 2022-23 - GLAAD
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