Julie and the Phantoms spoilers follow.
Julie and the Phantoms season two was in high demand from fans after its first outing, with the tale of a killed-off rock band reconnecting with the world via their music proving sweet, sentimental and hilarious.
But despite it becoming a number-one hit for High School Musical and Descendants creator Kenny Ortega, it seems like the boys, the show was stopped before its time.
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So what happened? Here's what we know.
Julie and the Phantoms season 2: What happened?
Dropping in September 2020, Julie and The Phantoms season one proved to be a hit with anyone who watched it – kids and adults alike.
The show won Best Musical Moment at the MTV Movie & TV Awards 2021 for 'Edge of Great', beating out WandaVision's 'Agatha All Along' and 'Brown Skin Girl' from Beyoncé's Black Is King, among others – so clearly, it made quite the impression on its viewers.
As such, it seemed almost a given that the series would be renewed for a second season, with Kenny Ortega making no secret of his desire for another round in interviews.
"I love just the basis of it," Ortega said (via PopSugar). "Come on, a little girl, awaking the three ghosts exploding into her life and sharing this love of music and starting a band. There was a little Hannah Montana there. It ignited my spirit because it had all of those elements that excite me about wanting to do something, and heart, and magic, and surprise, and action, and adventure."
Producer Shawn Williamson added to CinemaBlend: "I believe so, yes [there are avenues to explore in season two]. Absolutely. So they've certainly set them up well for success on the next season. And Dan [Cross] and Dave [Hoge] as the showrunners were spectacular. And I know the second season would be as good or better than the first."
But then... nothing. Fan-toms soon started bombarding Netflix's social media for news and they just weren't giving it up. Over a year-and-a-half went by, with absolutely no news on the future.
Then, in December 2021, Netflix pulled the trigger and said the show was cancelled.
Kenny Ortega, alongside a gallery of behind-the-scenes snaps, wrote on Instagram: "Julie and the Phantoms #standtall. Our @julieandthephantoms 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 premiere.
"We learned this week that Netflix will not be picking us up for another season. 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."
He later added to People: "There was disappointment, there was hurt and there was even anguish. And then I kind of said: 'Look, whatever comes next, if it isn't a kind of afterlife for Julie, you'll always be in my heart, you'll always be in my thoughts and I will continue to make programmes with you in mind'."
But fans weren't done giving up hope, believing with a fair amount of pushing they could potentially pull a Lucifer and give the series a second life. It's happened before, it can happen again, right?
Soon Twitter was blowing up with a #SaveJATP hashtag, and a website launched dedicated to ways in which viewers can get Netflix's attention. This included a petition, which at the time of writing has over 180,000 signatures, and a GoFundMe page to help finance billboards and messages across the world.
Unfortunately, as of April 2022, it's still not been enough.
Julie and the Phantoms season 2 cast: Who would have been in it?
If the show was returning, then Madison Reyes would have come back as Julie – she is the titular character, after all.
Then there's guitar player Luke (Charlie Gillespie), Reggie (Jeremy Shada) on bass and drummer Alex (Owen Patrick Joyner) – the ghostly band that are working with the human Julie to propel them to stardom.
Booboo Stewart as Willie, Jadah Marie as Flynn, Savannah May as Carrie, and the chilling Cheyenne Jackson as Caleb would've also likely made a comeback.
Julie and the Phantoms season 2 plot: What would have happened?
Chatting to TVLine ahead of the cancellation, executive producers David Hoge and Dan Cross said: "If we are lucky enough to get a second season, the ghosts would have a lot going on. They've always wanted to get their music out there for the world to hear. Like Luke always says, they want that connection with their audience.
"A number one album? Song at the top of the charts? Whatever it takes to be remembered for their music. But as you saw at the very end, there are still plenty of obstacles to get in their way. And now it seems there's an 'obstacle' in the inner circle."
The cast also had their own personal hopes on how things would have played out.
"In season one, we had so much to learn going into everything. Now the chemistry is there! We've all learned so much… music… how things are shot… even visual effects! And so, I'm stoked to see the music set pieces we have in season two, now that we've hit the ground running and are really comfortable with all of it. Take that to another level," Jeremy Shada told Tiger Beat.
"I definitely want to bring some more Latin culture into the show! Julie is so influenced by her culture and we see that so much already represented in her house and how she dresses, but I think I really want to try to bring some more of that to the show," Madison Reyes said.
"I'd love for our superpowers to grow! [In the first season,] we're brand-new ghosts, learning how to pick up things and teleport, but then you look at someone like Caleb who is this master of ghosts who can levitate and make other people appear and disappear. That would be legendary! Also, how dope would it be to get the OG 'Julie and the Phantoms' cast to make a little season two appearance?!" Charlie Gillespie said.
Season one set up the premise that our undead band buddies are on Earth because they have unfinished business. That unfinished business was yet to be resolved at the end of the first set of episodes.
Also, season one ended on a fairly massive cliffhanger – Caleb Covington taking over Nick's body for what we can only imagine are dastardly purposes. Now we'll never know what he has in store.
Julie, Luke and Nick's love triangle would have also most likely been explored further, particularly after that season one cliffhanger.
Chatting to E! about the connection between Julie and Luke, Reyes said: "I'm excited to see where the relationship goes, especially [because] we didn't just go right away with the two of them getting together or anything like that. It wasn't your typical like, 'Girl meets guy, guy and girl fall in love'. There was struggle. There was challenge.
"They know that it's not right and that it's not going to work out, but the fact that they can push aside everybody else's thoughts and just kind of care about each other for what their soul is and who they are and what they represent and project out into the world is amazing.
"And I feel like we should establish that, especially for younger people to know that you don't have to necessarily rush things. It's better to just get to know a person. Also, you should listen to what people have to say, but if your heart is telling you this, and you've got that gut feeling, then just go for it."
But she ruled out any smooching between the pair going forwards.
"No. I don't really think so," she said when asked about the possibility by PopBuzz. "That's what I like about their relationship. It's a deep connection... I think we should show that you don't need to just fall for any guy that you like. You can take your time. We still don't know if they're just gonna stay here or how much longer they still have on the Earth."
Ortega added: "There's still a long way that we can go in building their chemistry and connection with one another... there's so much we can show without having to physicalise it. That's the beauty of them."
Julie and the Phantoms season 2 trailer: When can we watch it?
Sorry guys, but no renewal means we'll never see any more footage about what was in store for our ghostly rock band.
We're personally going to sit and listen to 'Unsaid Emily' on repeat and mourn the loss. You can join us, or you can watch the season one trailer above and see what you've missed.
Julie and The Phantoms is available on Netflix.
Netflix/Left Bank Pictures The Crown season 3 with Amazon exclusive box artwork
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Sam is an entertainment writer with NCTJ accreditation and a twenty-year career as a film journalist.
Starting out as a staff writer at Total Film, moving up to Deputy Online Editor, Sam was responsible for Total Film’s YouTube channel, where he revolutionised the magazine’s approach to video junkets, creating influential formats that spread to other outlets.
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