Why hasn’t Netflix renewed Julie and The Phantoms for a second season yet?

It will soon be a year since the series Julie and The Phantoms was released on Netflix. Created by Kenny Ortega who is known for High School Musical and Descendants, his new series has been a big success with the fans who keep asking for a second season, but this one has still not been renewed by Netflix.

After having covered several virtual conventions organized by Dream It Conventions with the actors of Julie and The Phantoms but also Kenny Ortega during the last months, we have gathered all the information concerning a potential renewal for a second season.

First of all, you should know that all the actors including Kenny Ortega want to have a season 2. And the fans so dedicated to have it, have not stopped campaigning for Netflix to renew the series. If you follow Netflix on social media, you won’t be surprised to see in the comments the community of fans asking Netflix to announce a season 2. This was even noted by Fivel Stewart, the sister of Booboo Stewart who plays Willie in Julie and The Phantoms. Indeed, during the Dream It At Home 13, the latter said that the fan community for JATP was incredible because when she looks at the comments under the Atypical posts (since she plays in Atypical), she sees a lot of fans saying “Where is the season 2 of Julie and The Phantoms?”

So why haven’t we had any announcement about the future of the series yet?

A rather simple and obvious answer: the pandemic. At the Dream It At Home 8 were Sacha Carlson (Nick), Madison Reyes (Julie), Savannah Lee May (Carrie), Owen Patrick Joyner (Alex), Booboo Stewart (Willie), Jadah Marie (Flynn) and Kenny Ortega (creator). As fans asked if we were going to get a season 2, they all said they hope so and that we should continue to let Netflix know if we want a season 2 to the series. But Kenny also said that right now it was complicated because of the pandemic. Indeed, for a series such as Julie and The Phantoms, you need a lot of dancers, a lot of people on the set (especially for concerts or this kind of scene), and with the current restrictions (at the time of the convention) it was not possible, especially since the borders of Canada (where season 1 was shot) were closed.

However, they were hoping that by this summer the restrictions would have changed, and they could get together and shoot a season 2. The convention was in February so why have we not heard anything since? Knowing that the film industry has recovered well (although it’s still difficult with the new variant)…

It is during the last Dream It At Home, the thirteenth edition, that we could know a little more. Indeed, for this edition we could find Sacha Carlson, Booboo Stewart, Madison Reyes and Savannah Lee May and as usual the fans asked for news about a potential season 2.

The actors answered, that they still had hope. However, it’s still the same problem: the pandemic. But if the shooting of many other series could resume, why not Julie and The Phantoms? Booboo Stewart and Sacha Carlson explained that even if it was possible to shoot a series now, it would not be convenient for Kenny Ortega. The latter has a rather different way of working. For him, his actors and his team are a family, he likes to have people close to each other, that’s why they constantly gather to hug and congratulate each other etc… But this would be impossible right now with the restrictions and the distancing. The actors have said that they don’t see Kenny shooting his show under these conditions.

Is this the end of Julie and The Phantoms?

Only time will tell. According to us, everyone wants a new season, including Netflix. But because of this pandemic that penalizes many people and that may persist for a while, it is impossible to say if we will have this season 2 or not.

It would be silly for Netflix, with such a success with fans to cancel the series. And that’s probably why we haven’t had any news until now. But given the special conditions required to shoot the series, it would seem that it will be complicated, especially if Kenny does not wish to do distancing on the set. But we do not lose hope, perhaps in the next few weeks we will have good news? If this is the case, however, we should not expect to have the season 2 before the end of 2022 or even 2023. This is also a factor that Netflix must probably take into account in order to renew the series. If a new season arrives 3 years after the initial release of the first season, will people still be interested? Especially with a targeted audience…

The cast of Julie and The Phantoms will be back for another Dream It At Home (DIAH14) this month! If you want to meet Madison Reyes, Sacha Carlson, Savannah Lee May, Booboo Stewart you can find all the information and get your tickets here!

You can also meet the cast of Julie and The Phantoms in Paris in December for a special Kenny Ortega convention, the Back To The Musical World organized by Dream It Conventions! You can find all the information about the convention and buy your passes/extras right here!

If you want to see again everything that was said by the actors of Julie and The Phantoms during the Dream It At Home organized by our partners Dream It Conventions, you can find our live tweets with everything that was said during the panels on these links :

Dream It At Home 8 with Owen Joyner, Sacha Carlson, Savannah Lee May, Jadah Marie and Booboo Stewart and Kenny Ortega !

Dream It At Home 10 with Owen Joyner, Sacha Carlson, Savannah Lee May, Madison Reyes and Booboo Stewart !

Dream It At Home 13 with Sacha Carlson, Savannah Lee May, Madison Reyes and Booboo Stewart!