Netflix's highest-scored season ever was canceled due to low viewership
In short: How does a series with a perfect 100% critic score fail to keep its platform? Warrior Nun became a case study in the disconnect between critical acclaim and audience retention, sparking a massive grassroots movement to save a show that many felt was unfairly discarded.
Warrior Nun premiered on Netflix in July 2020, following a series order given in September 2018. The show, created by Simon Barry, reimagined a comic book character into a fantasy drama about a quadriplegic orphan, Ava Silva, who discovers supernatural powers and joins an ancient order of warrior nuns fighting demons. While the first season received a 68% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the second season achieved a perfect 100% approval rating from critics, making it the singular best-scored season in Netflix history according to those metrics.
Despite this critical success, Netflix canceled the series in December 2022, citing low viewership. This decision triggered a significant backlash, with some fans labeling it part of a trend of canceling female-led shows with queer representation.
In response, a grassroots campaign emerged, including a Change.org petition that garnered over 123,000 signatures by January 2023, urging Netflix to renew the show or sell the rights to another platform. The show's future remains in a state of limbo. In August 2023, a revival trilogy of feature films was announced, but by April 2025, creator Simon Barry reported that the company owning the movie rights had done nothing and might no longer exist following the death of its CEO and investigations into fund mismanagement. The series remains a notable example of the tension between 'prestige' critical validation and the commercial demands of streaming giants.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Warrior Nun (TV series)
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