Warrior Nun

Warrior Nun is a television show based off a comic book character Warrior Nun Areala by Ben Dunn.
==Canon==
After coming back to life, Ava Silva finds herself caught between the opportunity to live her life the way she wants, having been under the care of the cruel and abusive staff at St. Michael Orphanage, and being needed in the battle between the Order of the Cruciform Sword and the demons they protect the world from.
When Ava eventually decides, at the end of season one, to join the OCS, it is with the intention that she will be the last Warrior Nun. Ava's plans to end the lineage of young woman sacrificing themselves in the war between realms is derailed when Adriel, a being from another realm, is unleashed on earth once again and begins to build a following via other-worldly means. 
===Main Characters===
*Ava Silva
*Sister Beatrice
*Shotgun Mary (Season 1)
*Sister Lilith
*Sister Camila
*Father Vincent
*Jillian Salvius
*Mother Superion (Supporting Season 1, Main Season 2)
*Adriel (Season 2)
*Michael Salvius / Miguel
=== Cancellation and Revival ===
On the 13th December 2022, Netflix announced they were cancelling Warrior Nun after two seasons‘Warrior Nun’ Canceled at Netflix After Two Seasons Variety. This announcement was the latest in a long line of shows with sapphic representation being cancelled, and the cancellation sparked a huge fan campaign around the hashtag #SaveWarriorNun that drew attention to a number of issues with the streaming industry and what it meant for shows and fandoms. Members of the Warrior Nun cast and crew, including Simon Barry, Kristina Tonteri-Young, and Toya Turner, engaged with the campaign, expressing their appreciation for the fandomSimon Barry on Twitter.
After more than 6 months of campaigning, Simon Barry announced on his Twitter that Warrior Nun would be returning:
Details on what the revival would look like remained light, in part because of the strikes at the time, but Dean English, executive producer on the show, announced through the newly established Warrior Nun Saved that it would be a trilogy of motion pictures and an expanded universe:
However, in October 2023, details were revealed that made many parts of the Warrior Nun fandom feel like they had been used. 
A countdown appears on the Warrior Nun Saved website, which generated interest within social media spaces. However, interest turned to distrust and uncertainty when the writers from the Netflix series — Simon Barry, David Hayer, and Amy Berg — all revealed that they had no involvement in what was happening and had not been approached to work on the trilogy. 
The majority of fans were then disappointed when the countdown reveal was for a competition to redesign the Warrior Nun halo. Some fans dug into specifics of the competition and discussed how not only were the terms of the competition exploitative in asking for free fan labour, there were also strong indications that the characters and designs of the Netflix series had not been released for useWarrior Nun Fans Feeling Betrayed By Truth About Show Being 'Saved' - Pride. Oct. 6, 2023. 
When fans learnt original creator, Ben Dunn, had been posting information to his Facebook page, it seemed increasingly likely that he and Dean English intended to reboot based on Dunn's comics. However, the fans on the TV series, Warrior Nun, were by and large not fans of the original comics, for many reasons including the misogynistic tone of the comics. This left fans not only feeling betrayed and as though they had been exploited, but confused over how Dunn and English thought the scenario would play out when fans realised the characters they loved would not be returning.
==Fandom==
Throughout season one, the premise of the show, as well as the growing hints of queer representation amongst the characters, drew in a growing queer — particularly sapphic —fandom. As the details revealed in season one were minimal, this led to much discussion amongst fans about whether the show was going to actually going to do something with the hints that were being dropped. Some people criticised the lack of explicit representation, with most of the representation being in single lines or in subtextHow Warrior Nun Misses An Opportunity For Better Queer Representation, while others were more optimistic.
The original comics had written Shotgun Mary as a lesbian in the 90s and, while it was not confirmed on-screen that Mary was sapphic, many fans felt her present-day mourning of Sister Shannon's death and the details revealed during flashback scenes were indicative they had been a couple. More credence was later added to this in season two. Personal circumstances meant that Toya Turner was unable to return to reprise her role as Mary, meaning her actions and dialogue were redistributed to other characters. Many fans felt that a particular set of lines, spoken by Sister Camilla to Sister Beatrice were originally spoken by Shotgun Mary as they did not fit Camilla's storyline:
During a Q & A with Kristina Tonteri-Young on Twitter, she spoke about how Camila had lines that were originally written for Mary and also semi-confirmedyou are who you pretend to be and in the replies of tiredwriter888's post both at Tumblr [Original Twitter Sources would be appreciated if available] that the line above was one of them. Toya Turner later confirmed the line was originally Shotgun Mary's during a Twitter space. 
Sister Beatrice was also confirmed to be a lesbian indirectly but intentionally during a scene with Ava in episode 8 'Proverbs 14:1', with other suggestions of her sexuality also playing out in dialogue between Beatrice and Mary, and brief moments between Ava and Beatrice. In season two, a slow-burn romance between Beatrice and Ava developed, with Ava being confirmed as bisexual, and affirming that the chemistry perceived by fans had been intentional. 
Fans have spoken fondly of what Ava23 on Tumblr and Beatrice'svicostardust at Tumblr character meant to them, with Beatrice's struggle with internalised homophobia and her conflict between her faith, duty, and her developing feelings for AvaSister Beatrice is a Dutiful Princess in Crisis in Warrior Nun Season 2 The Fandomentals managing to avoid many of the patterns and tropes that make similar story-lines tiresome. 
After Netflix cancelled Warrior Nun, one of the writers said that they had to hide the sapphic romance from Netflix, who wanted to suppress it‘Warrior Nun’ Reportedly Had To Hide Its Gay Romance From Netflix, Says Writer. 
What many felt was especially ridiculous about this was Ava had sex with her male love interest, JC, in season one, whereas her romance with Beatrice in season two was considerably less physically demonstrative. 
Despite the cancellation, the fandom for the show remains active on both Archive of our Own and Tumblr (though, understandably, smaller than it was at the height of the show's popularity) with 142 works updated in December 2024. Some fans have taken the details provided by Simon Barry to write their own season three, particularly intrigued by the news that Raya would have weaponised Ava, making her one of the antagonists for the season. On the other hand, other fans have written their own interpretation or ideas for how season three might have gone. 
===Shipping===
The most popular ship is the canon pairing Ava Silva/Beatrice, also known as Avatrice. In the 2023 shipping statsAO3 Ship Stats 2023 by centreoftheselights collected by centreoftheselights, Avatrice were 35th on the all-time F/F pairings list and 47th out of all pairings between August 2022-August 2023.
There are other pairings in the fandom of varying popularity, including:
*Shotgun Mary/Sister Shannon
*Sister Lilith/Sister Camila
*Shotgun Mary/Sister Lilith
*Jillian Salvius/Mother Superion
===Cancellation and Revival Response in the Fandom===
Fans were furious at the cancellation of Warrior Nun, a response likely fuelled by the large number of shows with sapphic main characters which had been cancelled in recent years. A hashtag campaign, website, newsletters, and other fandom events — including purchasing billboards and posters to put up in prominent locationsWarrior Nun Global Billboards and arranging international fan meet-upsCancelled Netflix Show Fans Hold Meet Up In Front Of LA Billboard - Screenrant — soon followed and did not let up. 
Other fans looked at the numbers and advertisement associated with Warrior Nun — no easy achievement on the former given the notorious lack of transparency for metrics from streaming companies — and pointed out that Warrior Nun had admirable viewing numbersWarrior Nun Source on Twitter, better than some shows which were renewed, and received critical acclaimNetflix’s Cancels ‘Warrior Nun,’ Its Highest Audience-Scored Series Ever, For Reasons - Forbes, all while receiving nearly no promotional budgetWarrior Nun Thrives on Netflix Despite Having a $0 Promotion Budget - CBR and little advertising from Netflix itselfDid Netflix Cancel “Warrior Nun” Because of Anti-Sapphic Bias? - The Fandomentals. 
The campaign received considerable media attention, especially as the commitment maintained momentum for months"Never Seen Such An Uprising": Unprecedented Canceled Netflix Show Campaign Explained In Video - Screenrant, and article writers expressed delight on behalf of the fans when their campaign was successfulNetflix’s Cancelled ‘Warrior Nun’ Gets Resurrected After An Endless Fan Campaign - Forbes. The fandom response to the news of the successful campaign was just as considerable as the campaign itself wasWarrior Nun Saved search on Tumblr. 
This also meant, as more details came out that the reboot may not be the return of the characters and fandom they loved (as discussed above), that fans had no qualms about voicing their anger over the turn of events. 
The snippets of information released led to a lot of mixed emotions in Warrior Nun fandom spaces, with some fans still holding out hope that it's just bad PR, others furious that they've been used, some feeling hurt and defeated including giving up on having long-term sapphic-centred shows, and a minority of fans in social media spaces, who say they had never believed the hyper of #WarriorNunSaved, being smug about feeling vindicated about the news. All of this has led to some in-fandom tension and arguments. However, it seems that the majority of people are empathetic to the feelings of the fans.
In 2024, there was more negative news when it was revealed that the production company and film financier behind the film was facing a financial probe and the CEO, William Santor, had been suspended following reports of financial mismanagement of the company. Many fans of the series have accepted that either the films will never be made or, if they eventually are, they won't be the Warrior Nun that they actually know and love.
==Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
* show me something of a reckoning by explosivesky
* of greater marvels yet to be by seabiscuit
* Because the Light Is Close by foibles_fables
===Fan Art===
=== Fan Vids===
* Ava Silva | Anti-hero by cam
* This is War by #SaveWarriorNun
* Whatever it Takes by avatricesxz
* Take Me to Church by MsDarkShadow6661
* Light 'Em Up by Jack
=== Zines===
*Warrior Nun One Anniversary Fanzine by Warrior Nun Promo- Released July 3, 2021
*A Very Halo Holiday by Warrior Nun Promo - Released December 18, 2021
*Liyag by Warrior Nun Promo - Released June 7, 2023
===Podcasts and Episodes===
*Into The Halo
*Inside the OCS
* This Lesbian Ship is Intense - Multiple 2022-23 episodes
* Ladies First - Multiple episodes 2020-23
* Big Gay Energy - Multiple episodes 2022-23
* It's a Queer Thing - November 2022 episode, "Warrior Nun, and The Rise of Avatrice"
===Other Fanworks===
* The OCS Newsletter- Fan-run collective source of news and content for Warrior Nun.
=== Fan Events and Conventions ===
* Halo Bearer UK Convention 
* Witchbomb
==Archives and Communities==
*Warrior Nun (TV) on Archive of Our Own
*r/WarriorNun on Reddit
*Warrior Nun Wiki on Wikia
*Warrior Nun hashtag on Tumblr
*Warriornun.com website
==References==
Category:Warrior Nun