Vampire Academy spoilers follow.
Life always sucks at Vampire Academy for very obvious reasons, but it's never sucked quite like this. Just one season in, the new adaptation based on Richelle Mead's book series has been cancelled by Peacock.
For those wondering what the fuss was all about, the show's synopsis read a little something like this:
"In a world of privilege and glamour, two young women's friendship transcends their strikingly different classes as they prepare to complete their education and enter vampire society."
So yes, that's yet another diverse show with strong female and queer leads that's been ended prematurely. And surprisingly enough, Netflix wasn't even the culprit this time.
This one stings a lot, like sunlight on pasty vamp skin, especially when you factor in how many years it took for this show to end up on our screens in the first place.
So what happened? Why did Peacock drive a stake through the hearts of Vampire Academy fans everywhere so soon?
Why Vampire Academy was cancelled
The initial response to Vampire Academy was quite decent, if not overwhelming. Season one received a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 77% with 13 critic reviews, which is quite a leap from the paltry 17% score that the film landed eight years prior. However, the audience score for the show is a bit less impressive with an overall rating of 48%.
These scores aren't the be-all and end-all, especially when there's a chance bigotry could have come into play, but it does suggest that Vampire Academy wasn't a humongous hit for Peacock.
When the cancellation was announced on January 20, 2023, Deadline reported that Vampire Academy (and another cancelled show, One of Us is Lying) "didn’t find the requisite audience to justify further seasons". Peacock execs were apparently happy with the show from a creative standpoint, though.
It's a shame the show wasn't given time to grow and evolve, especially as it had been sold to over 100 territories around the world. With a second season, Vampire Academy could have cemented its audience and become something bigger than it was. At times like these, it's hard not to wonder how a show like this would have fared ten years ago on a regular TV network instead of streaming.
Saying that, it seems the world wasn't ready for Vampire Academy back then, or at least not in movie form. The 2014 film adaptation bombed upon release with almost universally negative reviews from critics. That response quickly translated to the film's box office success, or lack thereof, too.
Vampire Academy cost $30 million to make but only made $15 million back in ticket sales. In the UK, the film never even saw the light of days in cinemas, which is kind of fitting really, when you think about it. Instead, Vampire Academy went straight to DVD and Blu-ray in July 2014.
Cancelling plans for a wider franchise seemed like a no-brainer back then, but with the modest success of Vampire Academy's new TV series, there might still be some hope for this story yet.
What would Vampire Academy season 2 have looked like?
Following season one's finale, co-creators Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntrye told EW that they had plenty of material left to draw from in Richelle Mead's books.
"If we do some of the things we've discussed, we're deepening and expanding some of the worlds that are touched on in the books. Like, what do the Communes actually look like in this world? We're expanding on stuff that was touched on in the books. Then there's a little bit of new stuff we have planned," MacIntyre said.
Plec added: "The second book largely takes place at a school ski trip, which would perhaps be an episode or two and can't really be a whole season, so that instantly opens up our ability to take more license with the different elements from all the books. We ended season 1 where book one began and that is so exciting to me that we now get to tell the story of the girls out in the human world, and that could last one episode or it could last 8 episodes."
Unfortunately, we might never get to see how that journey plays out now. And worse of all, we won't even know if Victor's still alive following what happened in season one's finale.
"I like the idea of ending a season in a question mark for everyone," MacIntyre said at the time. "That's the state I want to leave our beautiful fans in. But I will say we love J. August and we love Victor."
MacIntyre wanted to assure fans: "If you loved it in the book series, it will come. We just don't know when it will come."
That's pretty harsh to read now in the wake of Vampire Academy's cancellation, but there is some hope that answers may still come.
Upon hearing the cancellation, Julie Plec told fans on Twitter that she plans to shop the show out to other networks:
"I, too, am grumpy. This is a romantic, exciting, addictive show with a breakout cast, a passionate fan base and legions of story left to tell. Business is business and streamers have to find what works for them, but if you’re a network with a need for a vampire show, we’'re avail[able]."
A further tweet added: "To answer your question, yes we will absolutely be knocking on doors to find a new home for it. I just can’t fathom a show people like with so much story left to tell not having a chance to do so."
But maybe Vampire Academy will have "a chance to do so" after all. It's not unheard of for shows to be rescued by other networks, and with the active search for a new home, fans might be in luck yet.
A return on Prime Video could be possible given that Plec is also working with the streamer on a show named We Were Liars. Netflix might be another contender, as it's historically been the home for other Plec shows related to her Vampire Diaries franchise. However, things feel a bit iffy over there right now due to their cancellation culls, so Vampire Academy could be better off elsewhere if it does return.
That "if" feels more like a "when" if the viewers have their way. Following Vampire Academy's cancellation, fans have been doing everything they can to raise the show's profile in hopes of a renewal. From raising funds for the Trevor Project to encouraging blood donations, it's gratifying to see the #VAFamily rise up and find something good in all this, regardless of what the outcome will be.
Vampire Academy airs on Peacock in the US, and on Sky and NOW in the UK.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
