Despite all the hype and fanfare, First Kill couldn’t make it past its first season. Nearly two months after all eight episodes of the young adult lesbian vampire series dropped on the platform in June, Netflix has canceled First Kill after its debut season, with the streamer opting not to move forward with Season 2. News that a stake had been driven into the series was first confirmed by Deadline on Aug. 2.
Based on New York Times best-selling author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab’s 2020 short story of the same name, First Kill centered around teen vampire Juliette and monster hunter Calliope. The Romeo and Juliette-esque story followed the two as they became entangled as star-crossed lovers, all while Juliette struggles to make her first kill to secure her place in her family’s lineage and Calliope struggles to make her first kill as a monster hunter.
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Although the series had been praised for putting a same-sex relationship front and center, it ultimately failed to meet Netflix’s viewing numbers versus cost threshold. Sources confirmed to Deadline that Netflix’s decision to cancel the series boiled down to First Kill failing to “meet thresholds for viewing and completion of episodes.” Premiering on June 10, the series immediately made its way into the streamer’s Top 10, ranking as No. 7 within the first three days of its debut, with 30.3 million hours viewed. It went on to peak at No. 3, only falling behead Stranger Things and Peaky Blinders, ultimately spending a full week on the streaming charts before falling off and earning more than 100 million viewing hours in its first 28 days of release. Those numbers, however, apparently weren’t enough.
Rankings aside, First Kill also failed to garner much critical praise, only securing a 58% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, which still makes it certified fresh. Caroline Framke wrote in a review for Variety, “for all the work First Kill puts into making sure it hits all the right notes, the series feels more like an uncanny valley version of what it’s attempting to be rather than a worthwhile story all its own.” The series fared much better among the audience, though, securing an 89% audience score.
Written by Felicia D. Henderson and Schwab and executive produced by Emma Roberts, First Kill starred Sarah Catherine Hook and Imani Lewis as the lead characters. The cast also included 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. The eight-episode first and only season is available for streaming on Netflix.
