Posted in: Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: Felecia D. Henderson, first kill, Imani Lewis, LGBTQ, netflix, Sarah Catherine Hook

First Kill Doomed by Marketing Only Lesbian Vampire Aspect: Showrunner

With the ax falling on the supernatural drama series First Kill after its first season, showrunner Felicia D. Henderson turned the blame to Netflix and how it handled its marketing. Based on the YA short story by V.E. Schwab and executive produced by Emma Roberts, the series follows a teenage vampire, Juliette (Sarah Catherine Hook), who sets out 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 (Imani 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.

"I so enthusiastically signed on to this show [because] it has something for everyone," Henderson told The Daily Beast, "Strong women leads, supernatural intrigue, an epic, Shakespearean battle between warring families, and a prominently featured Black family in the genre space, something Black viewers crave and a general audience needs to be treated to."

Henderson further explained that the marketing never went beyond the teenage lesbian vampire element. "The art for the initial marketing was beautiful. I think I expected that to be the beginning and that the other equally compelling and important elements of the show — monsters vs. monster hunters, the battle between two powerful matriarchs, etc. — would eventually be promoted, and that didn't happen." She recalled when she got the news.

"When I got the call to tell me they weren't renewing the show because the completion rate wasn't high enough, of course, I was very disappointed. What showrunner wouldn't be? I'd been told a couple of weeks ago that they were hoping completion would get higher. I guess it didn't," Henderson said. The series also starred Elizabeth Mitchell, Aubin Wise, Gracie Dzienny, Dominic Goodman, Phillip Mullings Jr, Jason R. Moore, Will Swenson, and Jonas Dylan Allen.

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