EXCLUSIVE: Netflix will not be picking up a second season of First Kill, its teen vampire drama series executive produced by Emma Roberts.
Netflix’s renewal/cancellation decisions usually come down to viewing versus cost. First Kill, which starred Sarah Catherine Hook and Imani Lewis, featured mostly up-and-coming talent and had a decent run based on Netflix’s Top 10 viewership figures.
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Released June 10, First Kill cracked into the streamer’s weekly Top 10 for English-language TV series with its first three days of release, ranking No. 7 (No. 3 non-Stranger Things title) with 30.3M hours viewed. It peaked at No. 3 in its first full week of release with 48.8M hours viewed, only behind Stranger Things 4 and Peaky Blinders Season 6, and spent one more week in the Top 10 before falling off. The series easily cleared 100M hours viewed in its first 28 days of release.
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According to sources, the series, which did not have the staying power of most Netflix hits, still did not meet thresholds for viewing and completion of episodes. Launching successful teen series has been challenging for all streamers; HBO Max just canceled Gordita Chronicles amid a pullback in live-action kids/family original programming.
Written by Felicia D. Henderson and best-selling author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, First Kill was based on a short story by Schwab. In it, when it’s time for teenage vampire Juliette (Hook) to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family, she sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope (Lewis). But much to Juliette’s surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter, from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find that the other won’t be so easy to kill and, unfortunately, way too easy to fall for…
The cast also included Elizabeth Mitchell, Aubin Wise, Jason Robert Moore, Gracie Dzienn, Will Swenson, Phillip Mullings Jr., Dominic Goodman and Dylan McNamara.
Henderson, who served as showrunner, executive produced alongside creator Schwab as well as Roberts and Karah Preiss through Belletrist Productions.
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