After the cancellation of High Fidelity by Hulu, of which the cast was notified on Wednesday, folks were surprised.
For one, the first (and now only) season of the show was acclaimed by critics and fans alike. For another, the incredibly diverse cast and voice of the show were very unique on Hulu-something that cast member Zoe Kravitz made sure to note in a parting Instagram post.
In a comment exchange with Tessa Thompson, Kravitz sarcastically noted the lack of Hulu content which contained women of color in leading roles.
"At least hulu has a ton of other shows starring women of color we can watch. oh wait."
High Fidelity has seen a few incarnations in the past 30 years—first as a 1995 novel by Nick Hornby, then as a 2000 film starring John Cusack as Rob and ironically, Zoe Kravitz's mother, Lisa Bonet.
This version of the story starred Kravitz as Rob (short for Robyn this time) our unlucky-in-love protagonist who has struggled with tons of failed relationships in her lifetime.
Kravitz once before noted the much-needed diversity of the show in other ways, vis a vis "The Big Ticket" podcast from Variety and iHeartRadio:
"The amount of comments, DMs, things on Twitter, articles written about Brown women who love music, were afraid of commitment, who've never seen a person like them on television — they feel seen for the first time."
"I have a friend who—one of his best friends loves punk music and is gay—it's like, 'Oh my God, I can't believe I'm watching a gay man in a Minor Threat shirt."
"I've never seen that before.' Just breaking away from the stereotypes, I feel like people need that. So I feel very lucky to have been able to deliver that, because one of the most important things for me was authenticity and bringing a real world to life."
"I've lived in New York for a long time, and in a lot of ways this was a love letter to New York with all its messiness and diversity."
The cancelation of the show certainly puts Hulu's other programming under the spotlight, as audiences will undoubtedly be looking for shows that check all the boxes of representation the way that High Fidelity did—as well as tell a rich and fulfilling story with those characters and their identities.
Only time and accountability will tell if they succeed.
