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1 August 2022 4:28 PM

The Wilds’ fans are devastated at the show’s cancellation: ‘they all deserved so much better’

"The Wilds is such a good example of how men always ruin everything".

By Emily Maskell

Words: Emily Maskell; pictures: Amazon Studios

After only two seasons, the hit LGBTQ+ Prime Video show has been cancelled by Amazon Studios and fans are fuming.

The young adult survival drama series has been axed, Deadline reported last week (28 July), with the cast and crew being told just as the news broke online less than three months after the second season was released.

The Wilds received buzz after its debut season, following the ordeal of eight teenage girls mysteriously stranded on a desert island, was met with shining reviews and the show was quickly ordered for a second season. 

That sophomore season featuring eight male characters, however, was less favoured.

These new survivors find themselves in the same perilous situation as their woman counterparts and both groups must navigate new connections. 

The first season scored an impressive 92 percent from critics on Rotten Tomatoes while the second season received a still fair 85 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.

No official reason has come from the streamer as to why they’ve dropped the show but Deadline hints the “subdued reaction” to the second season may be the downfall. 

The Wilds was an important production for Amazon Studios, the show was in the first batch of YA pilots ordered after Jennifer Salke sought to expand YA series on Prime Video.

Fans are frustrated with the streamer for cancelling the show, but also with the decision to introduce male characters to the mix after the first season was celebrated for its originality with an all-woman cast.

The Wilds was also praised for its diversity of characters who weren’t sidelined in supporting roles; in particular, Toni (Erana James) a proud indigenous teenager played by a queer indigenous actress.

This is just one of the reasons given as to why fans are desperate for Amazon Studios to make a U-turn on their decision, one fan writes: “let’s talk about the importance and rarity of indigenous representation in media!! canceling the wilds means losing two indigenous characters, played by indigenous actresses, one who’s playing a queer young woman. this representation is so important.”

One fan, frustrated about the cancellation after men were added to the show, tweeted that the show “the wilds is such a good example of how men always ruin everything.”

“you give me a season full of women on an island together forging complex bonds with each other … what on earth would make you think i’d ever want MEN in that show,” they continue. 

“they all deserved so much better,” another fan tweeted with images of the show’s characters. 

Some fans ever pointed out that the show’s premise in its first season was to show how women could survive on their own so the second season’s addition of male characters was always going to be questionable.

“there really are levels of irony to the fact that the wilds was a show about an experiment that essentially wanted to prove women are better than men, and the show got canceled because they added men and it became awful,” one tweet reads.

The hashtag #RenewTheWilds has been trending on and off since the announcement of the show’s cancellation, with fans hoping the streaming platform will change their mind and return the show to its former glory.

The Attitude September/October issue is available to download and order in print now and will be on newsstands from Thursday 4 August.

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