Season 2 and the future of the LGBTQ Q-Force series has sadly been confirmed as Netflix opts to cancel the animated show.
LGTBQ+ representation on both the big and small screens has been a central issue for production companies and streaming platforms for many years.
However, Netflix has particularly done an excellent job at providing LGBTQ+ content to their subscribers with a plethora of fantastic series that told the story of LGBTQ+ characters over the past several years.
Back in September 2021, the streaming giant added a new series to their already vast catalogue of animated content, the espionage action-comedy show, Q-Force.
Unfortunately, the chances of Q-Force season 2 appear now to be dead and buried following Netflix’s decision to cancel the series – here’s everything fans need to know.
Q-FORCE | Official Trailer | Netflix
Q-Force season 2 won’t happen as Netflix cancels series
Immediately after the premiere of Q-Force season 1 in September 2021, the future initially appeared to remain as bright for the series as the wonderful characters themselves.
The platform already had several LGBTQ+ focused titles in production and has demonstrated multi-seasonal commitment to various original animated titles. Therefore, if Q-Force was watched by enough people, the streaming giant would have likely been encouraged to renew the series for season 2.
Unfortunately, it has just been reported by What’s On Netflix that the streaming giant has decided to cancel Q-Force before season 2 went into production. This information comes via Matt Rogers, a writer for Q-Force, who was recently interviewed on the Attitudes! podcast, who revealed that “It did not get a second season.”
Sadly, it appears that the poor critics’ reviews and audience response were the final nails in Q-Force’s fabulous coffin. As of June 29th, the series is scoring a disappointing 6.4/10 on IMDB and just 29% on Rotten Tomatoes – this despite the audience score still sitting at the 78% mark.
“In conclusion, 6/10. It’s not a horrible show, just very mediocre leaning towards okay. I understand the need for all kinds of queer stories, but shows that hinge on yasss queen stereotypes aren’t my cup of tea. I just want to be treated like everyone else.” – User BoxwoodExpress, via IMDB.
CBR’s Reuben Baron said that whilst the series “has its heart in the right place and has little that could offend any adults in the queer community” Q-Force suffers from being “not very funny.” This was an opinion echoed by Daniel D’Addario from Variety, who stated that “If quality were measured in good intentions, Q-Force might be the show of the year.”
However, similar criticisms persisted with the show lacking a central presence needed to pull the entire narrative together. Other critics have been a little harsher towards Q-Force, with AV Club titling their review “Netflix’s Q-Force is as soulless as a Drag Race acting challenge.”
“It’s like scrolling through the drafted tweets of Gay Twitter Comedians or sifting through the outtakes for a gay podcast, where every other sentence in a conversation involves a name-drop of a pop star or actress and a catty observation about them.” – Juan Barquin, via AV Club.
Couple these poor reviews with the fact that Netflix has recently slashed its animation department by over 70 employees and Q-Force season 2 is a no-go.
There is indeed an extremely slim chance that the series could be picked up several years down the line by Netflix, or even by another streaming platform or network. As explained by the Attitudes! podcast host in the aforementioned interview with Rogers, there are some fans that predict season 2 will eventually happen as “it’s just too special.”
As noted by What’s On Netflix, “After all, we’ve recently seen Tuca & Bertie get its second life on HBO Max after Netflix cancelled it after a single season. NBCUniversal Television notably is the distributor of the show so perhaps a Peacock revival could eventually be on the cards like Tuca & Bertie?”
However, for the time being, fans should understand that Netflix rarely reanimates a cancelled series and that Q-Force season 2 may remain a pipedream for the foreseeable future – but what other LGBTQ+ focused shows should you check out next?
Other LGTBQ+ animated series to check out on Netflix
Are you a fan of Q-Force and are disappointed at Netflix’s cancellation? Well, there is plenty of other fantastic animated LGBTQ+ series available to watch online.
The most obvious choices after Q-Force are She-Ra and the Princess of Power, Super Drags and The Hollow; all are available on Netflix.
Recently, the Netflix streaming giant also premiered Dead End: Paranormal Park which features an adorable trans lead character; the hilarious animated series is a definite recommendation from HITC and even spooked US Senators earlier this year – see here.
Other series you should check out include Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts and Steven Universe on Netflix; Amphibia and The Owl House on Disney; and Yuri on Ice and Given anime series on Crunchyroll.
By Tom Llewellyn – [email protected]
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