Julie and the Phantoms Has Been Cancelled By Netflix

The ghostly musical comedy Julie and the Phantoms premiered in 2020 to critical acclaim and, while it developed a strong fanbase, it remained severely underrated. After winning Best Musical Moment at the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards and picking up THREE Daytime Emmy Awards, fans waited on bated breath for news of a season 2.

Now, after nearly a year of waiting to hear about the future of the show, executive producer Kenny Ortega took to Instagram to confirm the dreaded news that Julie and the Phantoms has been cancelled. “Our Julie and the Phantoms family want to send our love and endless thanks to our Fantoms all over the world for the tremendous outpouring of love and support you have shown us since our premier. We learned this week that Netflix will not be picking us up for another season,” he wrote. “Although our hearts are saddened, we move on with such pride for what we accomplished as a team and the family we built while creating Julie. We hope you will continue to follow us as we move forward with our work and careers.”

Cast members shared their own sentiments to the cancellation:

"I love you guys all so dearly thank you for all the support remember to stand tall no matter what love you This may be the end of Julie Molina but this is just the beginning a Madison Reyes,” replied Madison Reyes on Ortega’s post.

Jadah Marie commented: “We love you all. Thank you for the support and all the love. Flynn out.”

Jeremy Shada took to his Instagram Story, writing, “Big thanks to Kenny for giving us all this opportunity to be a part of Julie and the Phantoms. Much love to everyone who loved watching the show as much as we loved making it.”

“Now I know what it really feels like to have unfinished business,” wrote Owen Joyner in an Instagram Story. “From Julie all the way to the fans. You guys are the most uplifting spirits. Thank you for the luv.”

Based on the Brazilian series Julie e os Fantasmas, the Netflix adaptation starred newcomer Madison Reyes as Julie Molina, a teenager who lost her passion for music after the death of her mother. She ends up accidentally summoning the ghosts of three dead musicians from the 90s — Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner), and Reggie (Jeremy Shada) — who help her reignite that spark when she becomes the frontwoman for their ghostly band, while she helps them with their own unfinished business.

Focused on a Latina with deep musical roots, Julie and the Phantoms made me feel seen. Reyes’ Julie Molina is brave, talented, she has a unique style, and super supportive friends and family. To see a Puerto Rican frontwoman who knows how to rock was something I hadn’t seen on screen before and Reyes truly had that star quality. The chemistry Julie had with Luke, Alex, and Reggie was unmatched and you could tell that the cast truly became a family. Julie and the Phantoms was funny, heartfelt, and inspiring — plus it had genuinely great music (I mean “Unsaid Emily” won an Emmy for a reason!). I’m so sad to see after all the success this show had that Netflix has passed on renewing it for another season.

In a discussion on the Pop Culture Planet podcast, I had the privilege of speaking with Madison Reyes about Julie and the Phantoms, including how powerful it was to hear from girls about how she impacted them. “Hearing all the young girls out there who are reaching out to me on Instagram is so emotional because I know that feeling of having that lack of not being able to see somebody that looks like you to look up to,” she told me. “That's what drove me to take this role so seriously and just go for it in the beginning. Just to know that if I did get cast I could be that role model for so many young girls who were just like me looking for that person to latch on to and [know they could] achieve their dreams after seeing that I could achieve mine.”

“I'm very grateful that we all connected so great. They're my second family,” said Reyes about the band. “When it came to us being that band and those performances, it was just us becoming Julie and the Phantoms. We are Julie and the Phantoms. We come alive whenever the music starts playing.”

“We would love to go on tour,” Reyes told me. “Our like biggest goal right now is just to go on tour and be able to interact with the fans and just rock out and travel the world with our music.”

I also spoke with Cheyenne Jackson and Booboo Stewart about Julie and the Phantoms while they were promoting Descendants: The Royal Wedding. They talked about how much of a blessing it was to have a great on-set family with Julie and the Phantoms and Jackson added that: “Anything with Kenny Ortega is always going to be high energy and bonkers and creative.”

Excuse me while I mourn the end of Julie and the Phantoms by playing the first season’s soundtrack on repeat and pray that another network picks the show up. Disney+, anyone?