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Controversial Heathers reboot cancelled by the Paramount Network

6 years ago
by gaytourism
Written by gaytourism

The reboot of cult classic film Heathers has been cancelled

The Paramount Network’s reboot of cult classic film Heathers has been cancelled after only one season.

The show

Based on the 80s movie of the same name starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, the announcement of the series was met with skepticism from fans.

One big criticism was the fact the mean girls in the Heathers clique, instead of being the typical model of high school royalty, all held marginalized identities. For instance, Heather McNamara (originally played by Lisanne Falk) is a black lesbian in the reboot. Heather Duke (originally played by Shannen Doherty) is a genderqueer individual. And Heather Chandler, the queen bee originally played by Kim Walker, is plus-sized.

‘Since the TV series is said to stay true to the movie, most of the minorities are about to be killed off and/or sidelined, which is definitely not the kind of representation any of us deserve. Not to mention most of these characters are killed off because J.D, a white male, thinks they deserve it,’ writes Nerdy POC in a Medium essay.

‘Of course, I was surprised, when I saw Paramount decided to have a plus-sized Heather Chandler, a genderqueer Heather Duke and a black lesbian Heather McNamara. The Heathers are supposed to be villains. They’re supposed to be the oppressors. I worried not only that the message of the show would be that the oppressed have become the oppressor (which obviously sends a very bad message to the white, thin, cishet people of the world) and that the characters of marginalized groups would be killed off by the two white, cis, heterosexual leads (which also sends a very bad message),’ writes Julia for Affinity Magazine.

The cancellation

Paramount’s reason for ending the series was due to all the recent school shootings.

‘This is a high school show, we’re blowing up the school, there are guns in the school, it’s a satire and there are moments of teachers having guns. It’s hitting on so many hot topics,’ Paramount president of development and production Keith Cox told The Hollywood Reporter.

‘This company can’t be speaking out of both sides of its mouth, saying the youth movement is important for us and we’ve done all these wonderful things to support that and at the same time, we’re putting on a show that we’re not comfortable with.’

The original premiere of the series was set for 7 March. However, it ended up being pushed back due to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida which killed 17 people in February.

‘Paramount Network’s original series Heathers is a satirical comedy that takes creative risks in dealing with many of society’s most challenging subjects ranging from personal identity to race and socio-economic status to gun violence,’ the network said in a statement. ‘While we stand firmly behind the show, in light of the recent tragic events in Florida and out of respect for the victims, their families and loved ones, we feel the right thing to do is delay the premiere until later this year.’

Now, after the recent high school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, the network won’t be airing the series after all.

According to Cox, the season two scripts of the show are close to completion and Paramount hopes to find the show a new home on a non-Viacom-owned network.

Reactions

People on Twitter were excited by the news of the show’s cancellation.

Even Manila, from season three of RuPaul’s Drag Race, was happy about the news.

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