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'AJ and the Queen' premiered on Netflix on January 10, and by March, it was cancelled. Here's why we want to save 'AJ and the Queen'.

Save ‘AJ and the Queen’ here’s why we want more of the RuPaul camp dramedy

Good things on Netflix never last long; like a stable relationship in a country song, they are doomed for failure.

AJ and the Queen premiered on Netflix on January 10, and by March, it was cancelled. 

Series creator and star RuPaul Charles confirmed the cancellation on Twitter, noting it was the “end of the road for AJ and The Queen.” The series was a labor of love between RuPaul and Michael Patrick King, 2 Broke Girls co-creator and the former Sex and the City showrunner.

RuPaul starred as Ruby Red, naturally, a dynamic drag queen traveling across the country in a decrepit RV and her orphaned, 9-year-old acquaintance AJ (Izzy G). Josh Segarra, Michael-Leon Wooley, Katerina Tannenbaum, and Tia Carrere also were featured on the program. 

It was just like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, but with a lovable orphan sidekick.

The two made their way across the continental United States on a series of misadventures, and RuPaul performed a musical number in almost every episode.

It was delightful. It was sweet and corny and not necessarily well-acted, but it was delightful nonetheless. Here are several very important reasons why we need more of this show:

We want more, dammit

It’s not like Netflix is some bastion for prestige television, The Ranch is still airing, after all. And it was stacked with a cast of cameos that could rival RuPaul’s Drag Race (for the amount of cameos they pulled from former contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race), and it was genuinely engaging to watch.

It’s worth it to see RuPaul perform

As the head of the judging table on RuPaul’s Drag Race, her role is similar to Supreme Leader Snoke from Star Wars: she must look over her loyal followers and lead them on to victory, it’s not like she can really take the stage for herself.

That’s what made AJ and the Queen such a breath of fresh air. RuPaul was back on the stage, where she belonged, putting on an amazing musical number for each short episode.

It ended on a cliffhanger

There is so much legislation that is important and deserves our attention. But the legislation we are willing to Tweet about would be a law that requires any show that gets cancelled on a cliffhanger to have at least an hour-long resolution episode to tie up loose ends.

AJ and the Queen concludes with AJ facing a reunion with her mother. RuPaul and King spoke to NewNowNext about the possibility of where these characters would end up in later seasons, noting the importance of being unpredictable in binge watching.

“We began our creative process, which is thinking ’What’s next? What haven’t you seen? What could happen? What’s unpredictable? What’s new,’” King said. “So we’re thinking a lot about the complicated triangle we created at the very end between Ruby/Robert, AJ, and Brianna. It’s a very interesting knot we’ve tied, and there are lots of ways we can untie it or make it tighter.”

That sounds amazing. If only we get to watch it.

There have been way worse television shows

The Big Bang Theory was on CBS for years, so there’s been worse. That’s all we’re saying. 

Pull a Sense8 and give us a fitting conclusion to a show that was a breath of fresh air in a never-changing landscape of police procedurals and soap operas set in hospitals.

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Comments
  • My wife and I binge watched the entire first season and then did it again. That tells you something. The show was one of the better shows on all of television in recent years. It was touching on numerous levels, at times hilarious, at times saddening and always left us wanting more.

    March 17, 2020
  • Orphan? Watch the show, will you? The fact that she is not an orphan but has a mother with very real problems provides a major theme! Single moms have it rough. Their kids have it even rougher. Wish we could see where this story takes them. I am so disappointed that we will never know!

    April 8, 2020
  • A good change from most shows. Likeable and sweet characters. Fun Great acting by Izzy G and not great by Rupaul but he was fabulous performing and delightful as a caring dear man. He looks great in men’s clothes and drag. That was fun too. A nice distraction from today’s world. I enjoyed it.

    April 20, 2020
  • Hey I’m so upset now. I love RuPaul and this show. I want to know how we can save it or can it be put somewhere else!! Damn I hate Netflix when they pull this crap which is often. Put a show on & then no new season. That’s the reason I cut my cable off because the networks do that crap. Now I’m tempted to do the same with Netflix!!! You are right about the big bang show never thought that was funny!!🤬

    April 22, 2020
  • I watched it with my teenage son. We both love it. It also brought up alot of talking points for us on very hard subjects. This show has been a bonding experience for us. I have to say I am a very open minded mother my son’s godparent is a drag queen.

    May 2, 2020
  • Watch them all over two days as I could stop watching. Please make another series

    May 3, 2020
  • it was a very inspiring and beautiful and fun show !!!! they should do a season 2 for sure , big boooooeeeehhh netflix !!!!

    May 16, 2020
  • It was a great show and I don’t understand the stop!
    I don’t know about how many people watched it from Italy where I live but we did and we loved each single second
    If you compare to other stupid series or tv show that go on for years that was a fresh wind in the TV world expecially in Italy
    Please stop chasing celebrities and go on with AJ and the Queen

    May 30, 2020

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