First Kill showrunner Felicia D. Henderson blamed the series cancelation on the lack of marketing by Netflix. In an interview for Daily Beast, Henderson said that the series might not have attracted many viewers because all the marketing was focused on the teen lesbian romance, while the show had much more to offer. First Kill tells the story of the forbidden love between the young vampiress Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Calliope (Imani Lewis), the descendant of a monster-hunter family. Both girls need to make their first kill to be accepted as part of their respective families, but instead, they fall in love and put those close to them at risk.
It’s a new spin on a classic story, and many fans fell in love with the fresh concept. However, Netflix cancelled the show without citing a reason publicly — though Henderson says they told her it was due to the series’ low completion rate. Commenting on the cancellation news, Henderson said “When I got the call to tell me they weren’t renewing the show because the completion rate wasn’t high enough, of course, I was very disappointed. What showrunner wouldn’t be? I’d been told a couple of weeks ago that they were hoping completion would get higher. I guess it didn’t.”
The showrunner also revealed she was expecting a thorough marketing campaign for the series, which unfortunately focused only on the teen lesbian angle of the show. As Henderson puts it:
“The art for the initial marketing was beautiful. I think I expected that to be the beginning and that the other equally compelling and important elements of the show—monsters vs. monster hunters, the battle between two powerful matriarchs, etc.—would eventually be promoted, and that didn’t happen.”
That’s sad indeed, as Henderson says one of the main reasons for her to get involved with the many stories they got to tell during Season 1. In the showrunner’s words:
“The other reason I so enthusiastically signed on to this show is that It has something for everyone—strong women leads, supernatural intrigue, an epic, Shakespearean battle between warring families, and a prominently featured Black family in the genre space, something Black viewers crave and a general audience needs to be treated to.”
Despite being disappointed with the cancellation news, Henderson also underlined how Netflix fully supported First Kill during production, offering the cast and crew everything they needed to shoot during the pandemic. As Henderson tells it: “They licensed the IP, paid for a pilot script, and gave it a healthy production budget. The creative team was very supportive when we were shooting the show under harrowing conditions—before there were ‘vaccines for all’ in Atlanta, a very overcrowded production hub.”
First Kill is adapted by V. E. Schwab from her short story of the same name, with Henderson serving as showrunner. The duo also shares writing duties and acts as executive producers. Emma Roberts and Karah Preiss also serve as executive producers through Belletrist Productions. In addition to Hook and Lewis, First Kill’s cast includes Elizabeth Mitchell, Will Swenson, Aubion Wise, Jason Robert Moore, Gracie Dzienny, Dylan McNamara, Dominic Goodman, Phillip Mullings Jr., MK xyz, Jonas Dylan Allen, and Roberto Mendez.
All eight episodes of First Kill are available right now on Netflix. Check out the trailer for the series below.
