Warrior Nun

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Fandom
Name: Warrior Nun
Abbreviation(s):
Creator: Simon Barry
Date(s): 2022
Medium: Live-action television show
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: Warrior Nun on Wikipedia
at IMDb
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Warrior Nun is a television show based off a comic book character Warrior Nun Areala by Ben Dunn.

Canon

After waking up in a morgue, an orphaned teen discovers she now possesses superpowers as the chosen Halo Bearer for a secret sect of demon-hunting nuns.[1]

After coming back to life, Ava Silva finds herself caught between the opportunity to live her life the way she wants, having been under the care of the cruel and abusive staff at St. Michael Orphanage, and being needed in the battle between the Order of the Cruciform Sword and the demons they protect the world from.

When Ava eventually decides, at the end of season one, to join the OCS, it is with the intention that she will be the last Warrior Nun. Ava's plans to end the lineage of young woman sacrificing themselves in the war between realms is derailed when Adriel, a being from another realm, is unleashed on earth once again and begins to build a following via other-worldly means.

Main Characters

Cancellation and Revival

On the 13th December 2022, Netflix announced they were cancelling Warrior Nun after two seasons[2]. This announcement was the latest in a long line of shows with sapphic representation being cancelled, and the cancellation sparked a huge fan campaign around the hashtag #SaveWarriorNun that drew attention to a number of issues with the streaming industry and what it meant for shows and fandoms. Members of the Warrior Nun cast and crew, including Simon Barry, Kristina Tonteri-Young, and Toya Turner, engaged with the campaign, expressing their appreciation for the fandom[3].

After more than 6 months of campaigning, Simon Barry announced on his Twitter that Warrior Nun would be returning:

Today I’m happy to officially report that because of your combined voices, passion and amazing efforts - #WarriorNun will return and is going to be more EPIC than you could imagine. More details to come! SOON! Thank-you!! #SaveWarriorNun #WarriorNunSaved ❤️🎬

Simon Barry @simondavisbarry


Details on what the revival will look like remain light, in part because of the ongoing strikes at the time, but Dean English, executive producer on the show, announced through the newly established Warrior Nun Saved that it would be a trilogy of motion pictures and an expanded universe:

Hi, my name is Dean English and I'm the executive producer of Warrior Nun. I'm the person who found the graphic novel and asked the dangerous question of, "What if?" First of all, I need to start by thanking all of you loyal fans. It's because of you and your incredible energy that we keep pushing forward to make these stories. You guys really make it all worthwhile. So thank you so much for your continued support.

​

I am very happy to announce that Warrior Nun is coming back as a trilogy of motion pictures. Once again, a trilogy of feature films. Three.

​

One thing we need to touch on involves the strike in Hollywood involving actors and writers. And it's due to that that we cannot make any announcements today on that front. Some may ask, "Does this perhaps infer that there's going to be a universe being launched of Warrior Nun, which could expand into films and TV series following characters that we already know?" The answer to that question is yes. And there will be more details in the future.

Dean English

However, in October 2023, details were revealed that made many parts of the Warrior Nun fandom feel like they had been used.

A countdown appears on the Warrior Nun Saved website, which generated interest within social media spaces. However, interest turned to distrust and uncertainty when the writers from the Netflix series — Simon Barry, David Hayer, and Amy Berg — all revealed that they had no involvement in what was happening and had not been approached to work on the trilogy.

The majority of fans were then disappointed when the countdown reveal was for a competition to redesign the Warrior Nun halo. Some fans dug into the specifics of the competition and discussed online how not only were the terms of the competition exploitative in asking for free fan labour, there was also strong indications that the characters and designs of the Netflix series had not been release[4].

When fans learnt original creator, Ben Dunn, had been posting information to his Facebook page, it seemed increasingly likely that he and Dean English intended to reboot based on Dunn's comics. However, the fans on the TV series, Warrior Nun, were by and large not fans of the original comics, for many reasons[5] including the misogynistic tone of the comics. This left fans not only feeling betrayed and as though they had been exploited, but confused over how Dunn and English thought the scenario would play out when fans realised the characters they loved would not be returning.

Just gotta say that what those folks are doing with Warrior Nun is gross. It's not just taking advantage of the fandom, it's actively asking artists to donate their hard work and time without fair compensation. Something seemed off about the "Warrior Nun Saved" announcement to begin with, given the janky website and lack of details. But this is truly awful, sad stuff. Do not submit to this "contest" in case that wasn't clear.

alexzalben [6]


Fandom

Throughout season one, the premise of the show, as well as the growing hints of queer representation amongst the characters, drew in a growing queer — particularly sapphic —fandom. As the details revealed in season one were minimal, this led to much discussion amongst fans about whether the show was going to actually going to do something with the hints that were being dropped[7]. Some people criticised the lack of explicit representation, with most of the representation being in single lines or in subtext[8], while others were more optimistic.

The original comics had written Shotgun Mary as a lesbian in the 90s[9] and, while it was not confirmed on-screen that Mary was sapphic, many fans felt her present-day mourning of Sister Shannon's death and the details revealed during flashback scenes were indicative they had been a couple. More credence was later added to this in season two. Personal circumstances meant that Toya Turner was unable to return to reprise her role as Mary, meaning her actions and dialogue were redistributed to other characters. Many fans felt that a particular set of lines, spoken by Sister Camilla to Sister Beatrice were originally spoken by Shotgun Mary as they did not fit Camilla's storyline:

It’s easy to fall in love with a Warrior Nun. It’s loving the Warrior Nun that’s the hard part. They’re never yours. They never last.

During a Q & A with Kristina Tonteri-Young on Twitter, she spoke about how Camila had lines that were originally written for Mary and also semi-confirmed[10] that the line above was one of them. Toya Turner later confirmed the line was originally Shotgun Mary's during a Twitter space[10].

Sister Beatrice was also confirmed to be a lesbian indirectly but intentionally during a scene with Ava in episode 8 'Proverbs 14:1', with other suggestions of her sexuality also playing out in dialogue between Beatrice and Mary, and brief moments between Ava and Beatrice. In season two, a slow-burn romance between Beatrice and Ava developed, with Ava being confirmed as bisexual, and affirming that the chemistry perceived by fans had been intentional.

Fans have spoken fondly of what Ava[11] and Beatrice's[12] character meant to them, with Beatrice's struggle with internalised homophobia and her conflict between her faith, duty, and her developing feelings for Ava[13] managing to avoid many of the patterns and tropes that make similar story-lines tiresome.

Watching Beatrice’s coming out scene didn’t miraculously heal me of all my religious trauma, but it did lay before me a path of forgiveness and self-compassion. I am still learning: that my worth does not hinge on a set of achievements; that my queerness does not need to be watered-down to make it easier for others to swallow; that being gay is not a flaw for which I need to compensate. My queerness, my love, my strength–they are what make me wholly and wonderfully me.

Jen, Voices of the Fandom [14]

After Netflix cancelled Warrior Nun, one of the writers said that they had to hide the sapphic romance from Netflix, who wanted to suppress it[15].

“We wanted to have love stories. And it was just about treating everybody as human beings. And then when Avatrice [Ava and Beatrice] became the prime sort of shipping object, it just felt right that that was something we would pursue. But our executive at Netflix was uncomfortable with sex on any level, and was like, 'No...we're not going to do this Avatrice thing.' And Simon Barry and I were like, 'Yeah we are!'

David Hayter

What many felt was especially ridiculous about this was Ava had sex with her male love interest, JC, in season one, whereas her romance with Beatrice in season two was considerably less physically demonstrative.

Shipping

The most popular ship is the canon pairing Ava Silva/Beatrice, also known as Avatrice. In the 2023 shipping stats[16] collected by centreoftheselights, Avatrice were 35th on the all-time F/F pairings list and 47th out of all pairings between August 2022-August 2023.


There are other pairings in the fandom of varying popularity, including:

Cancellation and Revival Response in the Fandom

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.

Fans were furious at the cancellation of Warrior Nun, a response likely fuelled by the large number of shows with sapphic main characters which had been cancelled in recent years. A hashtag campaign, website, newsletters, and other fandom events — including purchasing billboards and posters to put up in prominent locations[17] and arranging international fan meet-ups[18] — soon followed and did not let up.

Other fans looked at the numbers and advertisement associated with Warrior Nun — no easy achievement on the former given the notorious lack of transparency for metrics from streaming companies — and pointed out that Warrior Nun had admirable viewing numbers[19], better than some shows which were renewed, and received critical acclaim[20], all while receiving nearly no promotional budget[21] and little advertising from Netflix itself[22].

The campaign received considerable media attention, especially as the commitment maintained momentum for months[23], and article writers expressed delight on behalf of the fans when their campaign was successful[24]. The fandom response to the news of the successful campaign was just as considerable as the campaign itself was[25].

This also meant, as more details came out that the reboot may not be the return of the characters and fandom they loved (as discussed above), that fans had no qualms about voicing their anger over the turn of events.

Dean English spit in the faces of all the fans (and the original team) who dedicated their time and/or money to save the show. They're taking advantage of the traction the fans built and are trying to manipulate them into supporting this trilogy to push their idealized view of the universe/concept without having to put in any work -- a fact that is made abundantly clear with this halo designing contest. They want the fans to do all the work. People like this are why the writer's strike is necessary. Do not support this contest, especially without knowing how you will be exploited.

spoonstra [26]

People have attributed what's happening with Warrior Nun to incompetence or misunderstanding...

They're using us babes.

Like, it's as simple as that. There is literally no other way they could have taken the push for Warrior Nun to be saved than us wanting the OG cast/crew back and for it to be a continuation of the TV show...

They just don't care. They used the fan backing to get their idea pitched and picked up and now they'll do what they're going to do.

The unfortunate part is, because there is still a very large part of society that loves oversexualized content, misogynistic content, and content that sticks it to "the gays", this new movie trilogy will probably be rather successful

flurry-of-beaus-pop-pop [27]

wow so you're saying that "warrior nun saved" meant that this misogynistic dude is now asking fans to work on them for free? no thanks #warrior nun #like yeah thanks for the inspiration dude but alba was right when she said that comics are nothing more than 'sexy nuns with guns' #now leave pls

yeh-shuhua-real-one [28]

The snippets of information released have led to a lot of mixed emotions in Warrior Nun fandom spaces, with some fans still holding out hope that it's just bad PR, others furious that they've been used, some feeling hurt and defeated including giving up on having long-term sapphic-centred shows, and a minority of fans in social media spaces, who say they had never believed the hyper of #WarriorNunSaved, being smug about feeling vindicated about the news. All of this has led to some in-fandom tension and arguments. However, it seems that the majority of people are empathetic to the feelings of the fans.

[anonymous]

hi um i'm kinda new and very angry at dean english - it sounds like he has a history of this kind of bull? i just feel dumb for having fallen for this

[inkedroplets]
You should absolutely not feel dumb. There are people far, far more knowledgeable about what went down than me but the lengths they went to hide just what they planned to do with Warrior Nun while rallying the fandom is/was incredibly scummy. They set out to trick people and I hope it bites them in the fucking ass.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fan Art

Fan Vids

Zines

Podcasts and Episodes

Other Fanworks

Fan Events and Conventions

Archives and Communities

References

  1. ^ IMDb - Warrior Nun
  2. ^ ‘Warrior Nun’ Canceled at Netflix After Two Seasons Variety
  3. ^ Simon Barry on Twitter
  4. ^ Warrior Nun Fans Feeling Betrayed By Truth About Show Being 'Saved' - Pride. Oct. 6, 2023
  5. ^ "'They can't even legally use the design of the Halo from the netflix series', badwolf-timeandspace Tumblr (Archive Link TBA)". Archived from the original on 2024-03-18.
  6. ^ alexzalben. Tumblr Post. Tumblr. Oct. 6, 2023. Accessed Oct. 7, 2023.
  7. ^ "'Warrior Nun is queer, but it could – and should – be a lot queerer', David Opie, Digital Spy". Archived from the original on 2020-08-08.
  8. ^ How Warrior Nun Misses An Opportunity For Better Queer Representation
  9. ^ "Race, gender, and 1990s comic books 2: Warrior Nun Areala". Archived from the original on 2023-02-02.
  10. ^ a b you are who you pretend to be and in the replies of tiredwriter888's post both at Tumblr [Original Twitter Sources would be appreciated if available]
  11. ^ 23 on Tumblr
  12. ^ vicostardust at Tumblr
  13. ^ Sister Beatrice is a Dutiful Princess in Crisis in Warrior Nun Season 2 The Fandomentals
  14. ^ "'Worthy Is the Lamb', Jen, Voices of the Fandom". Archived from the original on 2024-03-18.
  15. ^ ‘Warrior Nun’ Reportedly Had To Hide Its Gay Romance From Netflix, Says Writer
  16. ^ AO3 Ship Stats 2023 by centreoftheselights
  17. ^ Warrior Nun Global Billboards
  18. ^ Cancelled Netflix Show Fans Hold Meet Up In Front Of LA Billboard - Screenrant
  19. ^ Warrior Nun Source on Twitter
  20. ^ Netflix’s Cancels ‘Warrior Nun,’ Its Highest Audience-Scored Series Ever, For Reasons - Forbes
  21. ^ Warrior Nun Thrives on Netflix Despite Having a $0 Promotion Budget - CBR
  22. ^ Did Netflix Cancel “Warrior Nun” Because of Anti-Sapphic Bias? - The Fandomentals
  23. ^ "Never Seen Such An Uprising": Unprecedented Canceled Netflix Show Campaign Explained In Video - Screenrant
  24. ^ Netflix’s Cancelled ‘Warrior Nun’ Gets Resurrected After An Endless Fan Campaign - Forbes
  25. ^ Warrior Nun Saved search on Tumblr
  26. ^ spoonstra. Tumblr Post. Tumblr. Oct. 6, 2023. Accessed Oct. 7, 2023.
  27. ^ flurry-of-beaus-pop-pop. Tumblr Post. Tumblr. Oct. 7, 2023. Accessed Oct. 7, 2023.
  28. ^ yeh-shuhua-real-one. Tumblr Post. Tumblr. Oct. 6, 2023. Accessed Oct. 7, 2023.
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