‘The First Death’: Netflix cancels its lesbian vampire series after just one season

The Netflix series “The First Death” premiered on June 10 and was welcomed with open arms by the audience, who cheered the arrival of a series of lesbian vampires on the platform. The numbers confirm this, given that for two weeks it remained in the top 10 of the most viewed series on the streaming platform, behind other titles such as ‘Peaky Blinders’ or ‘Stranger Things’. Despite this, Netflix announced its cancellation after the first season.

What led to the cancellation of the series was its lack of success compared to other Netflix titles., which have remained at the top for the longest time. According to Deadline, the series didn’t have the same level of audience engagement as other Netflix hits and didn’t meet the required minimum of full episode views. That means, many people started it, but left it halfway.

‘The First Death’ is based on the story of writer Victoria Schwab, published in 2020, who managed to become a phenomenon of children’s literature. The piece made the leap to the streaming platform at the hands of the author herself and the team of writers and producers, including Emma Roberts. This LGTBIQ + reference focuses on the love story of two girls, while one belongs to a family of hunters, the other is part of a dynasty of vampires. A “Romeo and Juliet” style drama mixed with a bit of “Twilight” and spiced with lesbian love.

Descendant of the vampire literary classic “Carmilla”, “The First Death” breaks with the tradition of the bad lesbian, a vampire who corrupts submissive virginal girls. The series centers on Calliope (Imani Lewis), a determined girl who arrives new to the neighborhood where she meets Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook), a teenager from a vampire dynasty who sets her sights on her first prey, the just arrived. The young woman discovers that her new neighbor belongs to a dynasty of hunters. The fight between the two clans makes things difficult to which is added another problem: a strong crush between the two girls.

ianowt had a lesbian protag, black bi female love interest, syd had anger issues due to trauma, etc. (list other examples of rep these shows have had, these are above my head)

? lux / lian! (@profumifiori) 21 August 2020

“Heartstopper” will have two more seasons

‘Carmilla’ belongs to one of the classics of universal literature. In a failed attempt to demonize the love between women. This work, over time, has become a source of inspiration for the creation of other lesbian pieces. Movies, series, books … ‘The first death’ is another of the titles that deals with Sapphic love. However, It seems that the lesbian portrayals are popular, but they do not have enough portrayal.

During the controversial homosexual kiss between two female characters in Disney’s “Year of Light”, Netflix also canceled two series in which its protagonists were homosexuals. This is the case of ‘This shit is beyond me’, which had prepared the script for the second season, but did not see the light due to the circumstances caused by Covid. Added to the cancellation list was the “Day by day” series, which caused a lot of frustration among fans due to how the platform announced it, and “Two Much Lost Bullets”, which amassed a lot of fans.

The followers and followers of ‘The first death’ have shown their outrage on the networks for its cancellation, another that adds to the list of series with lesbian references that Netflix decides to cancel. For one reason or another, the platform decides not to continue with these stories where the representation of love between women is at the center of the scene and makes visible an almost non-existent reality in the sector, At least compared to other LGTBIQ + themed series, such as “Heartstopper”, a series that tells the love story between two boys and for which Netflix has two more seasons planned.

Immediately following the news of the cancellation of ‘The First Death,’ Heartstopper ‘set a trend on Twitter, with many users of the social network accuse Netflix of double standards when dealing with its queer series.