Picture: Netflix
Warrior Nun fans stayed up or woke up for a new WarriorNunSaved announcement overnight, and what was revealed was a drawing contest that has left fans disappointed and, in some cases, angry. Here’s what we know.
As a quick catch-up, Netflix canceled Warrior Nun unceremoniously quickly after the release of the second season as it became clear that the show wasn’t pulling in the viewership to warrant a third outing.
After copious campaigning online, fans’ prayers looked to be answered this summer.
In late June 2023, it was announced that Warrior Nun, and we received confirmation from Netflix that it would not be with them. Fast forward to August, and it was announced that a trilogy of movies was being made.
At the time of the announcement, Simon Barry (the showrunner of the Netflix series) and Amy Berg had both said on X that they weren’t at that stage involved in the project. Many associated that with the ongoing WGA strike at the time.
Dean English, an executive producer of Warrior Nun, made the announcement about the upcoming three movies in a video that’s amassed 20,000 views since its release.
What was the October 5th Warrior Nun Announcement?
Fast forward a few months, and we got word that another announcement was coming.
Then, at 9 PM EST, the WarriorNunSaved.com website was updated, and emails were sent with a “special mission from Warrior Nun creator: Ben Dunn.”
The announcement was that they were opening a drawing competition for residents of the United States and Canada to design a new halo design to have the chance of winning a signed drawn from the artist. The winner would hand over all rights to their drawing, presumably to be used in the upcoming movies, given stipulations in the official rules.
Ben Dunn specifically refers to the revival as “Warrior Life’s next life on the big screen,” continuing to say, “Three feature films, wow!”
Given the lingering questions about the revival (more on this in a second), it’s fair to say those who stayed up for the announcement were disappointed, plus given some of the terminology being used and confusion about who’s involved, anger is starting to brew.
“Bro… they’ve just lost so much of the fanbase,” posted one fan on X overnight, with another saying, “#WarriorNunSaved was 6 months of bad sleep, tears, tweeting hours, to get an art competition the 80% of the fandom is not included and we are not getting paid.”
Picture: Netflix
Adrienne who is well-known in the Warrior Nun community co-produces the OCS Newsletter who told us:
“When Simon announced the show was saved, now only did we win but it felt like our fight for representation and our story mattered. We were heard by people with the connections and money to bring back our great show which included the storyline of Avatrice and the cast and crew that fought to made that happen.
We don’t know what is going on behind the scenes yet and things take time. But not have Simon Barry in the loop yet disheartening. But we will not be silent about what we want nor our intentions. We are going to make sure whoever is behind #WarriorNunSaved knows that. And we will do it in the same fashion that we used throughout the original campaign.”
The lingering questions about the Warrior Nun revival
Ahead of the October 5th announcement, both Simon Barry and Amy Berg reiterated that they weren’t involved in the revival as it stood in any capacity and weren’t privy to the announcement that was coming.
After the update, Amy Berg stated: “I adore the show, our actors, our fans, and BFF Simon Davi Barry. I think we’d both like to be involved, but we don’t own the rights to the property. They’d have to make a deal with us.”
David Hayter has also stated he’s not involved in any reboot.
In a widely shared transcript of a recent interview with Michael Blackbourn (VFX supervisor for Warrior Nun) and Todd Giroux (one of the producers on the series), they talked about the revival and the complex moving parts of the rights surrounding it. The duo were unsure of some of the specifics about what rights were released back to Dean English’s company.
It continues to be What’s on Netflix’s understanding that Netflix owns the rights to the TV show in perpetuity.
Of course, all this leaves a lot of questions:
- Are the movies full reboots? Does Netflix retain the rights to the original characters and designs? Is a full reboot what fans even want?
- Is there any intention of bringing the old creative team or cast on board? If a full reboot, the answer is likely no.
- Who is actually funding these movies? Is there a distributor? Is it going to be crowdfunded? Will the movies be released theatrically? VOD?
In Tweets overnight, Michael Blackbourn was none the wiser about the revival and signaled that the halo competition was a “non-announcement that just kicks the can down the road…”
Asked whether a new halo design means the movies will be a full reboot with a new creative team, cast, and concept, Blackbourn responded, “I guess you could introduce a second halo into the story… that’s a glass half full interpretation.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.