First Kill showrunner Felicia D. Henderson blames Netflix's advertising efforts for the vampire drama's inability to build a strong following.

Writer/producer Henderson, who got her start on such classics as Family Matters and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, spoke with the Daily Beast about her chagrin with the streaming service's choice to end First Kill's run due to low completion rates. "What showrunner wouldn't be [disappointed]?" she commented. "I’d been told a couple of weeks ago that they were hoping completion would get higher. I guess it didn't."

RELATED: Netflix Cancels First Kill After One Season

Despite initial excitement with the planned marketing for the show, Henderson believes Netflix didn't go far enough: "I think I expected that to be the beginning and that the other equally compelling and important elements of the show—monsters vs. monster hunters, the battle between two powerful matriarchs, etc.—would eventually be promoted, and that didn’t happen." Fans corroborated this, saying that they hardly saw any promotion for the show outside social media.

Henderson went on to cite Netflix's data that proved the show performed at a high level during its release, landing a top five spot both globally and domestically for the majority of its initial four weeks. Angry fans used the hashtags #CancelNetflix and #SaveFirstKill on Twitter, claiming the streamer has established a pattern of axing shows with queer narratives.

First Kill's Twist on a Genre

Written by V.E. Schwab, First Kill tells the tale of a forbidden romance between a vampire and vampire hunter, Juliette Fairmont (Sarah Catherine Hook) and Calliope "Cal" Burns (Imani Lewis). The two teens take an interest in each other at a party, though an innocent game of Spin the Bottle quickly brings them to the realization of each other's identities and their families innate opposition.

RELATED: First Kill Is an Epic LGBT+ Romance at Heart

Though the relationship between the two characters is a focal point of the vampire series, Henderson made a case for it being much more. "The other reason I so enthusiastically signed on to this show is that It has something for everyone," she said of the show's broad reach. "Strong women leads, supernatural intrigue, an epic, Shakespearean battle between warring families, and a prominently featured Black family in the genre space, something Black viewers crave and a general audience needs to be treated to."

The show's first season was not positively reviewed by critics, who felt the expository monster mythology paired oddly with the budding relationship between the two protagonists. There were also complaints about the lack of on-screen chemistry. Reminiscent of past vampire/vampire hunter romances such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was argued that First Kill didn't do enough to make the concept its own.

Source: Daily Beast