I Am Not Okay With This showrunner and co-creator Jonathan Entwistle reveals that Netflix wouldn’t allow him to give season one a proper recut ending after the show was canceled. Based on the 2017 graphic novel of the same name by Charles Forsman, the coming-of-age series followed Sydney Novak (Sophia Lillis), a seventeen-year-old girl who discovers she has mysterious powers a year after her father’s suicide. The first season saw Sydney navigating her newfound abilities, all while dealing with friendship troubles, her relationships with her family, and an unrequited crush on her best friend.
By the end of season 1, Sydney has learned more about her father’s past, leading up to quite the season finale cliffhanger. After causing a shockingly gruesome incident at homecoming, Sydney runs off in shock before she is confronted by a mysterious man that has been following her throughout the season. When Sydney asks him who he is and whether she should be afraid of him, he replies, “They should be afraid. Let’s begin.” It was clear that the final scene was meant to lead into season 2, which fans expected to further explore Sydney’s powers and their connection to her father, as well as the aftermath of homecoming. However, in a surprise move, Netflix announced in August that I Am Not Okay With This would not be renewed for a second season due to coronavirus-related production concerns. Now Entwistle provides details on the cancellation and the complications that arose.
Speaking with Insider, Entwistle reveals that Netflix wouldn’t allow him to recut the season 1 finale to make it less of a cliffhanger. “We were shocked when it happened, because I was like, ‘What a weird show to cancel,'” said Entwistle. The showrunner went on to explain that the ending was intended to differ from the comic’s much darker ending, which saw Sydney commit suicide, “and we didn’t want it to end like that in the show,” said Entwistle. “And in fact, when the show was canceled, I went back to Netflix and said, ‘Hey, can you let me recut the last two shots so that there’s no dialogue and it just looks like a man appears to her? … but they wouldn’t let me.”
Entwistle also noted how his other Netflix series, The End of the F***ing World would have been better left at only one season, but Netflix opted to do a second season, which premiered two years after the first. “Don’t get me started on why we should have just ended it there,” he said. “I fought very hard to end it there.”
Sadly, fans will never know the truth behind many questions they have about I Am Not Okay With This. The show was also great for fans of The End of the F***ing World, especially as the two shows were revealed to take place in the same universe, which would have been interesting to see more of how they were connected going forward. Audiences will now just have to appreciate I Am Not Okay With This as one season and interpret the ending for themselves.
Source: Insider
Originally from https://screenrant.com/am-not-okay-this-cliffhanger-ending-reason/