Netflix unceremoniously canceled its teen vampire drama “First Kill” Tuesday, after the show aired just one season on the streamer.
The decision was met with outright confusion by diehard fans, who couldn’t help but wonder why “Heartstopper,” another teen show focused on a young LGBTQ couple, got a two-season renewal – especially considering it pulled weaker viewing numbers.
Within the first week of its release on June 10, “First Kill” sunk its teeth in as one of Netflix’s top TV shows. It peaked at No. 3, sitting only behind “Stranger Things” and “Peaky Blinders,” with 48.8 million hours viewed in its first full week. It remained in the streamer’s top 10 shows for its first two weeks of availability, and it flirted with 100 million hours viewed in that time.
Meanwhile, “Heartstopper” saw 14.5 million hours viewed in its first week, and 23.9 million hours in its second week, falling well below the benchmarks of “First Kill.” Fans were quick to point out the discrepancy online.
“Renewing heartstopper for two more seasons and cancelling first kill when it pulled in over 2.2million more views than heartstopper in the first two weeks… im so unbelievably tired of this,” one person tweeted.
Of course, it’s worth noting that “First Kill” is a genre show, with more special effects involved than “Heartstopper,” making it more expensive to film. But, fans addressed that, too, arguing that Netflix didn’t actually give “First Kill” a large budget to work with.
“Netflix saying first kill’s cancellation was bc of views not being enough for the cost when they literally gave them a budget of 5 dollars and a juice box and got 100 million viewing hours in return…” one person ruefully joked.
When making renewal decisions, however, it’s also known that Netflix looks at completion rate of its series, not just hours logged. “Heartstopper” is only four hours long, compared to “First Kill” releasing eight hours, which makes completion rate an easier bar to clear for the former series.
But for many, the frustration wasn’t mean to disparage “Heartstopper.” The consensus was that it deserved its two-season renewal. Frustration from the “First Kill” fanbase was more about the treatment of a show focused on a young lesbian relationship – specifically an interracial relationship – compared to one about a relationship between two young, white men.
“We’re not comapring first kill with heartstopper we’re comparing how netflix treats mlm-centric [male-loving-male] shows to how they treat their wlw [woman-loving-woman] shows,” one fan wrote.
“If you’re having a conversation about why First Kill was cancelled don’t forget to mention that Calliope is a darkskin black lesbian lead and nonblacks can deny all they want but Calliope being black especially darkskin plays a huge role its not just bc FK is a lesbian show,” another tweeted.
You can check out more responses to the cancelation of “First Kill” below.
