Simon Barry shocks fans with revelation that the Avatrice storyline nearly didn’t make the cut
BY SCARLETT COUGHLAN, IMAGE BY NETFLIX
Following Warrior Nun’s controversial cancellation in December last year, the fantasy drama has once again become a hot topic of conversation after showrunner Simon Barry revealed that Netflix purposely chose to sweep the show’s lesbian romance to the sidelines.
The series follows a group of teenage girls who learn to fight demons within an ancient order of warrior nuns. The first season features sapphic undertones between main character Ava (Alba Baptista) and martial arts expert Sister Beatrice (Kristina Tonteri-Young). In the second season, their fledgling romance becomes more overt, culminating in a kiss in the season finale.
Spanning only 18 episodes, Warrior Nun accumulated a diehard fanbase, striking a particular chord with the queer community. Needless to say, the revelation that there would be no third season sparked outrage amongst the fandom.
In response, the #SaveWarriorNun campaign quickly went viral online. And, in August this year, the show’s executive producer, Dan English, came bearing good news – the Netflix series is to return in the form of a film trilogy.
Though English atoned for the disappointment of fans in one regard, the Warrior Nun fanbase still had one question – why did it take until the last ever episode for the Ava-Beatrice romance to boil to the surface?
While it isn’t unusual for LGBTQIA romances to be underplayed on screen, Warrior Nun’s showrunner Simon Barry said the decision not to make the romance a central part of season two had nothing to do with the characters’ genders.
While Barry, talking to the ONS Newsletter, said he “wanted to emphasise the Beatrice-Ava relationship in stronger terms”, he revealed that Netflix feared the audience wouldn’t respond as well to the new direction in the plot.
“Netflix at times was worried that was not going to satisfy the audience as much as the story parts were,” he explained. “They didn’t want to make a trade of that relationship for other aspects of what the show was doing.”
“Season one was very plot-driven and the Ava-Beatrice relationship was […] an undercurrent of emotional torment and attraction, but not overt. We really wanted to bust it open, [but] they were nervous about the show changing too much in terms of what had worked already in season one.”
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