UPDATE (August 15, 2023): On August 15, 2023, in a video released by the YouTube channel Warrior Nun Saved, executive producer Dean English revealed that the resurrection of the series wouldn’t happen at its former home, Netflix. Instead, the story of the series will continue in a movie trilogy.
UPDATE: On June 28, 2023, Warrior Nun creator Simon Barry confirmed via Twitter that Netflix has reversed the show’s cancellation and renewed the series for season 3.
ORIGINAL STORY: After more than two years of hiatus, Warrior Nun finally returned to Netflix for its second season on November 10th, 2022. It’s been over a month since the show’s eight-episode sophomore run debuted on the streaming service, and if you’re one of those who are wondering whether the series is coming back for a third season, we have sad news for you.
Did Warrior Nun get canceled?
Yes. Warrior Nun was canceled by Netflix after two seasons. The cancellation news was first reported by Deadline on December 13th, 2022.
Series creator Simon Barry took to Twitter to confirm that the show won’t be getting a third season. “I’ve just found out that @netflix will not be renewing #WarriorNun,” he wrote on the social media site. “My sincere appreciation to all the fans who worked so hard to bring awareness to this series, and for the love you showed me, the cast, and the whole production team. It was a privilege to be a part of this.”
Why was Warrior Nun canceled?
Netflix didn’t explain why it opted not to order a Warrior Nun season 3. Showrunner Simon Barry couldn’t also pinpoint the reason for the show’s cancellation, but he tweeted that has “thoughts” on the matter, including what the streaming service had told him. He added that he’ll start a Twitter “thread in the next few weeks with some theories and conclusions” as he gathers more information.
According to Deadline, the performance of Warrior Nun season 2 ratings followed the pattern of other Netflix original scripted series that have previously been canceled as the streamer evaluates cost versus viewership for its renewal decisions.
Warrior Nun season 2 spent just three weeks in Netflix’s Weekly Top 10 for English-language series. For the week of November 7th to November 13th, the Warrior Nun‘s second season ranked sixth with 26.22 million viewing hours. For November 14th to November 20th, the show’s final season got the fifth spot in the ranking with 27.74 million viewing hours. And lastly, for the week of November 21st to November 27th, Warrior Nun‘s second season ranked ninth with 11.97 million hours.
While those are promising viewership figures, those are apparently not enough for Netflix to shell out a huge amount of money just to produce a Warrior Nun season 3.
Prior to the cancellation, Barry was hoping that the series would run for up to seven seasons. When asked by Inverse in July 2020 about how many future seasons of the show he had in mind, the showrunner said, “Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a hard number. These things tend to reveal themselves when the story starts to feel like it’s building to a crescendo. You do want to find a point where you can wrap. With Warrior Nun, I would give it a window because we’re still so early in the process of developing it. Anything between five and seven seasons would be lovely.”
In a separate interview with Screen Rant in November 2022, Barry confirmed that they have an idea of how the story would continue in the then-potential third season.
“Of course, when you end a season as writers, you always want to make sure that you’ve not written yourself into a corner,” he told the news outlet. “And yes, we did have a notion about what season 3 could be and how that would look. But of course, it’s up to the fans. If they show up in big numbers. Netflix will make the right decision.”
But since Netflix had already pulled the plug on the series, it looks like fans will never know what those ideas are.
Petition for Warrior Nun season 3
Though the show has officially been canceled, fans are still hoping that Netflix will reverse its decision. Two weeks ago, a fan named Sarah Manning started a Change.org petition urging the streamer to reconsider the show’s cancellation and order a third season.
“Warrior Nun is truly a rare show,” reads a portion of the petition’s description. “It flawlessly blends an interesting plot, punchy action sequences, detailed world-building, complex characters, [and] commentary on the blurred line between science and religion together to create an incredible fantasy show, not to mention one of the best slow-burn ships (sapphic or otherwise) ever seen on tv. After the recent cancellations of other sapphic content (e.g. The Wilds, First Kill, etc.), a renewal would be extremely meaningful to a community that feels increasingly underrepresented and undervalued in current television media.”
As of this writing, the petition has already earned more than 56,000 signatures. Whether or not this petition would cause Netflix to reverse the show’s cancellation and renew the series for a third season, Simon Barry let the fans know through a couple of tweets that he and the rest of the Warrior Nun team appreciate their effort.
We have the best fans. Thank you for standing up and fighting for #WarriorNun – #SaveWarrionNun In this life or the next! pic.twitter.com/ePkCVTTDjx
— Simon Barry (@SimonDavisBarry) December 15, 2022
#SaveWarriorNun pic.twitter.com/Jo0WHueU6A
— Simon Barry (@SimonDavisBarry) December 14, 2022
As seen in the photo in the tweet above, #SaveWarriorNun trended on Twitter together with #CancelNetflix on the day the cancellation was announced, after several fans took to social media to share how upset they are about the streamer’s decision.
Warrior Nun season 3 release date
Since Netflix canceled the show after two seasons, there won’t be a Warrior Nun season 3 release date unless the streamer reverses its decision or another platform picks it up for another batch of episodes.
In a response to a Twitter user, executive producer Simon Barry wrote that he and Reality Distortion Field – the production company behind Warrior Nun – will “find out if there’s a path to moving #WarriorNun somewhere else.”
About Netflix’s Warrior Nun
Based on the comic book character Warrior Nun Areala by Ben Dunn, Netflix’s Warrior Nun revolves around the story of Ava Silva, a young lady who wakes up in a morgue with a new lease of life and a divine artifact embedded in her back. She discovers she is now part of the ancient Order of the Cruciform Sword that has been tasked with fighting demons on Earth, and powerful forces representing both heaven and hell want to find and control her.
Portuguese actress Alba Baptista played the role of Ava Silva. The cast of the sci-fi fantasy also features Toya Turner as Sister Mary, Thekla Reuten as Jillian Salvius, Lorena Andrea as Sister Lilith, Kristina Tonteri-Young as Sister Beatrice, Sylvia De Fanti as Mother Superion, Tristán Ulloa as Father Vincent, and William Miller as Adriel.
Warrior Nun trailers
Haven’t seen Warrior Nun yet? Below are the trailers for the first and second seasons of the series.
