Have any of your favorite shows been canceled? Was it a Netflix show? Personally, I have had a few of my favorite shows removed from Netflix, but “Julie and the Phantoms” was the first to have been canceled prematurely.
“Julie and the Phantoms” is a teen rom-com-esque drama, produced by Kenny Ortega and released on Netflix on September 10, 2020. Based on the Brazilian show “Julie e os Fantasmos,” it’s focused around a musician named Julie Molina (Madison Reyes) as she discovers that three 17-year-old ghost boys are actively living in her garage. She finds this out after playing their band CD and being able to see them. These three phantoms were a part of a band named Sunset Curve, consisting of Luke (Charlie Gillespie) who is the lead guitarist and singer, Reggie (Jeremy Shada) who is the lead bassist and backup vocalist, and Alex (Owen Joyner) who is the drummer. All three of them died in 1995 (the show taking place in 2020) from rotten hot dogs, only to get to be the band they never got to be as Julie accidentally summons them.
Sadly, this show was canceled after one season, being announced by Netflix December 18, 2021. It wasn’t fully confirmed that there were no plans to bring the show back until 2022 from Kenny Ortega himself. Along with the disappointment from the cast, there was an outrage among fans of the show.
The longing for a second season was so strong that fans created a whole petition to get the show green lit to continue. The petition, found on change.org, has gained 266,439 signatures and 850 of those signatures are from October 25. These statistics prove that there is an active audience for the show and illustrates the fact that season two needs to be approved. Furthermore, there is no outward reason given by Netflix for the show to be canceled (which is often the case). Some theories include that the show didn’t bring in enough revenue, and that the show was bringing in the wrong audience. According to many, the show was bringing in older teens due to Kenny Ortega’s influence, and Netflix has an active desire for tweens and younger teens to watch their shows. However, as the saying goes, isn’t all publicity good publicity?
To solve this dilemma, I encourage people to go sign the petition, and GET THE WORD OUT! The squeaky wheel always gets the grease. If the fandom is loud enough, Netflix has to renew the show, right?
