Vagrant Queen (2020)

Syfy’s Vagrant Queen Canceled After One Season

This article is over 4 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Syfy has ended the reign of its Vagrant Queen a space opera based on the comic book series by Magdalene Visaggio and artist Jason Smith.

Series creator Jem Garrard noted on Twitter (above) that Syfy opted not to renew the series and thanked the show’s cast and crew for all the work that went into bringing this series to life. She is “proud of what we created and the epic adventure we all took together.”

The series followed Elida (Adriyan Rae), the child queen—the best kind—of an interstellar empire, who was deposed like Mary, Queen of Scots and went on the run, becoming a scavenger. When she got word that her mother might still be alive, she took it as an opportunity to reclaim a part of her life. Rounding out the cast are Wynonna Earp’s Tim Rozon as Isaac Stelling (the atoner type), Alex McGregor as Amae Rali (the mechanic and pilot), and Paul du Toit as Commander Ori Lazaro—the bad guy, duh.

Syfy has been cutting its volume of scripted originals as it ended The Magicians after five seasons, which seems to be the cutoff even for a successful series. Outside of Wynonna Earp, which is returning for its long-awaited fourth season at the end of July, all of their other scripted offerings are brand new.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the show struggled in the ratings game:

Syfy moved the series from Fridays at 10 p.m. to Thursdays at 11 p.m. after three episodes in a bid to boost it to a time slot where it has achieved success with late-night programming like The Great Debate and animation block TZGZ and repeats of Futurama. While posting an 11 percent gain week to week with the move, the series still wrapped its run as Syfy’s lowest-rated series among total viewers and in the demo since 2019.

Vagrant Queen wasn’t perfect, but after the glory that was Killjoys, I had been looking forward to another Black-led space show from Syfy. Plus, sometimes it takes shows like these time to find their audiences. Killjoys had a clunky first season, and it turned that around. Hell, all Star Trek shows struggled in their first season. Sometimes it makes a difference to give something time to see if it can be fixed before giving it the axe.

(via THR, image: SYFY)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Princess Weekes
Princess Weekes
Princess (she/her-bisexual) is a Brooklyn born Megan Fox truther, who loves Sailor Moon, mythology, and diversity within sci-fi/fantasy. Still lives in Brooklyn with her over 500 Pokémon that she has Eevee trained into a mighty army. Team Zutara forever.