Warrior Nun and the cancelation of its season 2 was the talk of the town through much of the past year. The series had a very big and dedicated fandom that was convinced in advance that the series was going to be canceled. Warrior Nun featured not only an incredible cast but also a beautifully executed storyline. Despite this, the series was canceled only two seasons in, disappointing fans all over the world.
It would seem that this wasn’t the only way that the streaming service behind this, Netflix, let its fans down. Recently, the showrunner of the series, Simon Barry, revealed that the streaming giant did not let the writers incorporate a storyline into the show, that of the romance between Ava and Beatrice.
Warrior Nun Writers Wanted a Romance at the Centre of Season 2
Simon Barry, the showrunner of Warrior Nun, recently did an interview with The OCS Newsletter, where he spoke in great detail about one specific aspect of the second season which caused some friction between the writers and Netflix. He explained that the writers wanted to give more attention to the relationship between Ava and Beatrice in Season 2.
” Think what happened was, as writers we wanted to emphasize the Beatrice/Ava relationship, in stronger terms constantly….” he went on, “the Ava Beatrice relationship was simmering and not dominant in that way. It was very much, I guess you could say, an undercurrent of emotional torment and attraction, but not overt.” he added, “So when you look at season 1, and you look at their relationship, that was very much undertones and suggestive, whereas in season 2, we really wanted to bust it open.”
While this future paring was hinted at and suggested in the first season, the writers had a completely different plan of how they were going to handle it later on. Rather than beating around the bush, they wanted to bust it open and make it a big plot point in season 2. Rather than have subtle undertones and stolen glances, they wanted to make it a highlight in the story. While a majority of the fans would have loved this, Netflix wasn’t on board.
Netflix Wanted Warrior Nun to Stay on Track
The first season of the Warrior Nun had a very good formula. The series had a range of impressive action sequences and was heavily plot-driven. This focus on the plot and the story was something that the writers wanted to sidetrack from. They wanted to change this theme and give much more attention to the relationship between Ava and Beatrice. This fact didn’t sit too well with Netflix, and the streaming platform was reluctant to the change.
“I think, Netflix at times was worried that that was not going to satisfy the audience as much as the story parts were. They didn’t want to make a trade of that relationship for other aspects of what the show was doing. And I think part of that was because season 1 was very plot-driven and very active, and there was a lot of action happening,”
“And so when we were presenting season 2 – and this is very common, by the way in development with executives and with networks. That they want you to preserve what worked the first time. They want you to make the same show, but slightly different stories. But they don’t want you to sort of veer off the path that they perceive is the successful path.” he went on,
The streaming giant, on the other hand, wanted to stick with all the elements of season one that had worked well. As Simon Barry put it, they simply wanted to copy the first season, with a different plot. While it is understandable why Netflix was hesitant about this, copying the first season may not have been the best idea, for anybody involved.
