‘Gentefied’ Co-Creator on Cancellation: “We Blasted Through a Brick Wall”

Gentefied co-creator and co-showrunner Linda Yvette Chavez says that even though Netflix has canceled the series, she’s immensely proud of how the dramedy played out.

“In a world where revolutionary art is commodified we have to rethink the way in which we value it,” Chavez wrote on Twitter Friday, a day after news of Gentefied’s cancellation after two seasons. “Metrics and algorithms will never measure the true impact of what we did here. … We may never see how deep the work goes or how far it reaches, what seeds we planted for change in the world, but we do the work anyway.”

Chavez and Marvin Lemus co-created Gentefied, which based on a web series they made. The show centers on three Mexican American cousins (Karrie Martin, J.J. Soria and Carlos Santos) chasing the American dream in Los Angeles, even while that same dream threatens the things they hold most dear: their neighborhood, their immigrant grandfather (Joaquín Cosio) and the family taco shop.

The cancellation comes two months after season two debuted; neither Netflix’s own metrics nor Nielsen’s streaming rankings showed the series breaking into the streamer’s top 10 series in the weeks after its debut.

In her statement, Chavez (who is now under an overall deal at Disney’s 20th Television) praised the show’s cast and crew and highlighted the people who were put “into positions they’re so often left out of — whether it was a face rarely if ever seen on screen, a director of color not often seen on set, a department head not often given the chance to lead, or a writer empowered and given their first credit. … Those seeds blossomed and reached millions around the world.”

She continued, “Don’t let anyone tell you we didn’t succeed. We blasted through a brick wall and made ourselves known. … Como los Morales, we will always be family no matter where we go.”