Shock as Netflix reverses its decision to renew Queen Sono for a second season
Queen Sono is Netflix’s first African original series. With a star studded South African cast it seemed Netflix had put its best foot forward. Unfortunately it has been revealed that the streaming service will reverse its decision to renew Queen Sono for a second season. What went wrong?
The beginnings of Queen Sono
The show is based on the life of SOG (Special Operations Group) agent Queen Sono who fights crime whilst trying to solve the mystery of her mothers’s assassination. The crime drama series was created by Kagiso Lediga with Diprente Films involved in production. Queen Sono premiered on Netflix on February 28, 2020 and was met with a lot of positive reviews with a score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The lead and title role belongs to Pearl Thusi who stars alongside great actors such as Vuyo Dabula, Khathu Ramabulana and Kate Liquorish to name a few which means the cast is well-known to South Africans and still refreshing to the rest of the world. The series was shot in multiple locations such as Kenya, Nigeria and Zanzibar, which brings us to the main reason the show was discontinued.
Why the cancellation?
Naturally the shows production team is very expansive which means more employees that can get exposed to the coronavirus. To make matters worse the team cannot film as they need to to make the show work because of COVID 19 restrictions. With no clear way forward Netflix cancelled Queen Sono after renewing it soon after the series premier.
Queen Sono herself travels a lot because of her job therefore, it would be impossible to convince the viewers that the cast are in different countries using the same set. A Netflix spokesperson said to TheSouthAfrican.com that, “We are incredibly proud of the Diprente team for sharing their audacious vision and bringing it to life with Netflix. A huge thank you to our fans across the world for the love shared for our first African Original series.”
“Netflix is also grateful to the amazing efforts shown by the cast and crew for their stellar efforts in creating this show for our members around the world. We’ll continue to work closely with South Africa’s creative industry to keep producing more compelling ‘Made-in-South Africa’ stories.”
Kagiso Lediga, who directed the series, said, “We wrote a beautiful story that spanned the continent, but unfortunately could not be executed in these current trying times”. Meanwhile, Pearl Thusi said: “It’s so incredible that we as a team got a lifetime opportunity to make history together as there will never be another ‘first’ African Netflix Original Series. I’m proud of the work we did, but everything happens for a reason. I am excited about what the future holds.” So far those are the statements available to us.
Is there a future for Queen Sono and other productions?
Without a shadow of a doubt it is very clear that the entertainment industry was hit really hard by the pandemic. How will shows that rely heavily on travel and contact carry on and will shows survive the possible budget cuts and lay-offs? All these questions are being asked also in relation to not only other Netflix originals such as Blood and Water and Shadow.
We sincerely hope that a vaccine will be approved soon so that we can get back to normal as much as we can. Maybe then Netflix will reconsider their decision…again.
Shock as Netflix reverses its decision to renew Queen Sono for a second season – SavannaNews