''Paper Girls'' is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series created by

Stephany Folsom Stephany Folsom is a screenwriter best known for her work on ''Toy Story 4'' and '' Paper Girls''. Biography Early life Folsom was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, she developed an interest in filmmaking. She told her high school cou ...

. It is based on the 2015–2019 comic book series of the same name written by

Brian K. Vaughan Brian K. Vaughan (born July 17, 1976) is an American comic book and television writer, best known for the comic book series '' Y: The Last Man'', '' Ex Machina'', '' Runaways'', ''Pride of Baghdad'', ''Saga'', and '' Paper Girls''. Vaughan was a ...

and illustrated by

Cliff Chiang Cliff Chiang is an American comic book artist. Formerly an assistant editor at DC Comics, he is now an illustrator, known for his work on ''Human Target'', '' Beware the Creeper'' and ''Crisis Aftermath: The Spectre'', '' Green Arrow/ Black Canar ...

. The series premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on July 29, 2022. In September 2022, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

''Paper Girls'' follows four young girls who, while out delivering papers during the dark morning hours after Halloween in 1988, become unwittingly caught in a conflict between warring factions of time-travelers, sending them on an adventure through time that will save the world. As they travel between time periods, they encounter future versions of themselves and must choose to embrace or reject their fate.

Cast and characters

Main

* Camryn Jones as Tiff Quilkin, an African-American girl with a high intellect * Riley Lai Nelet as Erin Tieng, a Chinese-American girl on her first day delivering newspapers *

Sofia Rosinsky Sofia Rosinsky (born June 10, 2006) is an American actress, who began her career as a child actress. Personal life Rosinsky's mother is actress K. Louise Middleton, studied with acting coach Sanford Meisner. She began acting at age five. Career ...

as Mac Coyle, a Caucasian tomboy who lives in the outskirts of Stony Stream * Fina Strazza as KJ Brandman, a Jewish-American girl whose family owns several businesses in Stony Stream * Adina Porter as Prioress, a high-ranking officer of the Old Watch

Recurring

Ali Wong Alexandra Dawn Ali Wong (born April 19, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She is best known for her Netflix stand-up specials ''Baby Cobra'' (2016), ''Hard Knock Wife'' (2018), and ''Don Wong'' (2022). She starred in the film ' ...

as adult Erin Tieng, a struggling paralegal in 2019 *

Nate Corddry Nathan Harris Corddry (born September 8, 1977) is an American actor and comedian best known for his roles as Adam Branch on ''Harry's Law'' and for his role as Gabriel in the first two seasons of '' Mom''. He has also guest starred on series suc ...

as Larry, a farmer and member of the STF Underground * Sekai Abenì as adult Tiffany Quilkin, a lighting designer in 1999

Guest

* Kai Young as Heck, a teenage STF Underground soldier who encounters the paper girls in 1988 * William Bennett as Naldo, Heck's comrade * Celeste Arias as Juniper, a female STF Underground soldier * Cliff Chamberlain as Dylan Coyle, Mac's elder brother who is a successful surgeon in 2019 *

Jessika Van Jessika Van is an American actress, singer-songwriter, pianist and dancer. Van is most known for playing "Becca," the ringleader of the Asians or the Asian mafia in Season 2 and Season 3 of MTV's '' Awkward.'' She also played Kim, a Hong Kong Po ...

as Missy Tieng, Erin's younger sister who works as a pilot in 2019 *

Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...

as Grand Father, leader of the Old Watch * Delia Cunningham as adult KJ Brandman, who becomes a film school student in 1999 * Maren Lord as Lauren, adult KJ's classmate and lover

Production

Development

On July 11, 2019, it was announced that

Amazon Studios Amazon Studios is an American television and film producer and distributor that is a subsidiary of Amazon. It specializes in developing television series and distributing and producing films. It was started in late 2010. Content is distributed th ...

had put the project in development with a series commitment, with

, who wrote the original comic book series, executive producing the project under his overall deal with

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC (doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...

. It was also announced that

would write the series, as well as executive produce alongside Vaughan. On July 23, 2020, the project was officially greenlit to series, with

Christopher Cantwell Christopher Charles Cantwell (born November 12, 1980), also known as the Crying Nazi, is an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, and federal informant. A member of the broader alt-right movement, Cantwell ea ...

, and Christopher C. Rogers joining as executive producers. On July 31, 2021, it was reported that Folsom has exited the series. On September 9, 2022, Amazon Prime Video canceled the series after one season, with Legendary Television shopping it around to other networks.

Casting

On April 26, 2021, it was announced that

, Camryn Jones, Riley Lai Nelet, and Fina Strazza were cast in the four lead roles. On May 6, 2021,

joined the main cast. On June 15, 2021,

was cast in a starring role.

Filming

The series was initially set to begin filming on March 1, 2021, but was later pushed back to May 17, 2021, in Chicago, Illinois. On May 28, 2021, photography took place in and around the Joliet police station. The series concluded filming on October 1, 2021.

Episodes

Release

The series was released on

on July 29, 2022.

Reception

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 ...

reported an 91% approval rating with an average rating of 7/10, based on 64 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Folding together time-traveling wonder with a strong ensemble of youngsters who are as dimensional as origami, ''Paper Girls'' is an absolute blast to the future."

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 ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 70 out of 100 based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Amazon Video original series 2020s American drama television series 2020s American LGBT-related drama television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2020s American time travel television series 2022 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming English-language television shows Lesbian-related television shows Television series about cancer Television series based on Image Comics Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Legendary Television Television series set in 1988 Television series set in 1999 Television series set in 2019 Television series set in fictional locations Television shows filmed in Illinois Television shows set in Cleveland