''I Am Not Okay with This'' is an American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air aer ...

series based on the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

of the same name by

Charles Forsman Charles Forsman (born 1982) is an American comic book author. Combining a simple drawing style with dark and realistic themes, Forsman continues the tradition of alternative comics. He obtained a degree from the Center for Cartoon Studies in 2008 ...

. The series stars

Sophia Lillis Sophia Lillis (born February 13, 2002) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Beverly Marsh in the horror films '' It'' (2017) and '' It: Chapter Two'' (2019) and for her starring role as a teenager with telekinetic abilities in th ...

Wyatt Oleff Wyatt Jess Oleff (born July 13, 2003) is an American actor, known for portraying the role of Stanley Uris in the 2017 supernatural horror film '' It'' and its 2019 sequel, as well as the role of Stanley Barber in the coming-of-age comedy-drama ...

, Sofia Bryant, and

Kathleen Rose Perkins Kathleen Rose Perkins (born November 15, 1974) is an American actress. Life and career Perkins was born in New Baltimore, Michigan, the daughter of Leonard and Donna Perkins. She graduated from Anchor Bay High School (1992) and enrolled in Wes ...

. The series was released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on February 26, 2020, and received positive reviews, with praise for the performances, particularly for Lillis and Oleff. Originally renewed for a second season,

canceled the series in August 2020, citing "circumstances related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Cast and characters

Main

as Sydney Novak, a 17-year-old

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

girl who begins to realize that she has telekinetic powers *

as Stanley "Stan" Barber, Sydney's neighbor and friend * Sofia Bryant as Dina, Sydney's best friend, whom she has a crush on *

as Maggie Novak, Sydney's widowed mother

Recurring

* Aidan Wojtak-Hissong as Liam Novak, Sydney's younger brother * Richard Ellis as Brad Lewis, Dina's jock boyfriend whom Sydney dislikes * David Theune as Mr. File, the high school science teacher * Zachary S. Williams as Ricky Berry, confident, monied jock and Brad's best friend * Jackson Frazer as Richard Rynard, a bully who torments Liam and whom Sydney confronts Photographs of

Alex Lawther Alexander Jonathan Lawther (born 4 May 1995) is an English actor. He made his professional acting debut originating the role of John Blakemore in Sir David Hare's ''South Downs'' in the West End. He made his feature film debut playing a young ...

and

Jessica Barden Jessica Amy Barden (born 21 July 1992) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her role as Alyssa in the Channel 4 comedy-drama ''The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019). She received a British ...

are briefly used as an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tr ...

to their respectively portrayed characters James and Alyssa from ''

The End of the F***ing World ''The End of the F***ing World'' is a British black comedy-drama television programme. The eight-part first series premiered its first episode on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2017, after which the following episodes were release ...

'' (2017–2019), the events of which are intended to be taking place simultaneously with those of ''I Am Not Okay with This''.

Production

Development

On December 12, 2018, it was announced that

had given the production a series order for an eight-episode first season, of which only seven were produced. The series was created by Jonathan Entwistle and Christy Hall, who are credited as executive producers alongside

Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian film director, film producer, actor, and founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. He has worked across genres and is perhaps best known as the director of the ''Night at the Museum'' film franchise an ...

Dan Levine Daniel S. Levine is an American film producer. He is best known for producing the critically acclaimed film '' Arrival'' (2016) that earned him an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination with Shawn Levy, Aaron Ryder, and David Linde. Filmogra ...

, Dan Cohen, and Josh Barry. Entwistle also directed the series. The series was released on February 26, 2020. The series was renewed by Netflix for a second season. On August 21, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after one season, stating "COVID-related circumstances".

Casting

Alongside the series announcement, it was announced that

, Sofia Bryant,

, and

would star in the series, with Aidan Wojtak-Hissong and Richard Ellis recurring in the series.

Filming

Filming commenced in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

in June 2019. The town of

Brownsville, Pennsylvania Brownsville is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the Sullivan Expedition, defeat of the Iroquois enabled a post-Revolutionary war ...

served as a primary location, while

Wilmerding Wilmerding is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,190 at the 2010 census. It is located southeast of Pittsburgh. At the start of the twentieth century, it had extensive foundries and machine shops of ...

's Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School was used as the high school exterior.

Reception

On the

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an 87% approval rating with 67 reviews, with an average rating of 6.82/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As awkward and charming as adolescence, but with twice the supernatural twists, ''I Am Not Okay With This'' first season at times veers into shallow territory, but Sophia Lillis' strong performance keeps it afloat." Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave the series a score of 68 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The series was nominated for " Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel" at the 2020

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

Episodes

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American black comedy television series 2020s American high school television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2020s American teen television series English-language Netflix original programming Television series about teenagers Television shows about telekinesis Television shows based on comics Television shows filmed in Pennsylvania Television shows filmed in Pittsburgh Television shows set in Pennsylvania Television productions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic