Major LGBTQ+ TV Show Canceled: No Season 2 for 'High School'

The cancellation comes after 'High Schoo' aired its first and only season in 2022.

By Allison Schonter

Amazon's Freevee will not be enrolling for a second season of High School. The coming-of-age LGBTQ+ drama, based on Tegan and Sara Quin's bestselling memoir, has been canceled after just a single season, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed.

High School was described as "a story about finding your own identity-a journey made even more complicated when you have a twin whose own struggle and self-discovery so closely mimics your own." Set amid a backdrop of '90s grunge and rave culture, the series weaved between parallel and discordant memories of twin sisters Tegan and Sara (played by TikTok creators Railey and Seazynn Gilliland) as they grow up down the hall from one another.

The show premiered its eight-episode debut season in October 2022, earning overwhelmingly positive ratings. Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, with High School earning a rare 100% fresh critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, where a critics consensus read, "High School is as effervescent and sensitive as a Tegan and Sara album, delivering a highly specific coming of age comedy that rings with universal truth." The show received a 94% audience score. Both Rolling Stone and The New York Times' ranked High School within the Top 10 on their lists of the Best TV Shows 2022.

The high praise for the show led Freevee to initially eye a second season. According to sources who spoke to THR, Amazon execs even had showrunner Clea Duvall open a mini writers room in late 2022, and all of Season 2 was scripted. However, the completion rate — meaning the percentage of viewers who stuck around for all 8 episodes — for High School ultimately led Freevee and Amazon execs to make the decision to cancel the series.

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High School marks just the latest LGBTQ+ show to be canceled and follows on the heels of Amazon's cancellation of the queer-leaning A League of Their Own, based on Penny Marshal's 1992 film of the same name. Over at Max, the hit series Our Flag Means Death was canceled after two seasons, with Showtime canceling Uncoupled and Peacock axing Queer as Folk.

Along with Railey and Gilliland, High School also starred Cobie Smulders, Kyle Bornheimer as their parents and Esther McGregor as well as Olivia Rouyre, Amanda Fix, Brianne Tju, Geena Meszaros, CJ Valleroy, and Nate Corddry. The series was executive produced by Clea DuVall, Tegan and Sara Quin, Laura Kittrell and Plan B's Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, and Carina Sposato. DuVall and Kittrell also served as co-showrunners and co-writers.

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