It was 2011. ABC Family was trying to find its next Pretty Little Liars, and they thought they had it with a girl who had literal cat claws. The Nine Lives of Chloe King was weird, fast-paced, and honestly, a bit ahead of its time. Then, poof. Cancelled after ten episodes. No resolution. Just a girl lying dead on the pavement and a fanbase left screaming into the void of the early Twitter era.
If you’ve ever fallen down a rabbit hole of "shows that ended too soon," you’ve seen her name. Chloe King. She was the Uniter. She was supposed to stop an ancient war between the Mai and the Order. Instead, she got a one-way ticket to the "cancelled on a cliffhanger" hall of fame.
What Really Happened With the Mai?
Basically, the show centers on Chloe King, played by Skyler Samuels. She's a regular San Francisco teenager until her 16th birthday hits. Suddenly, she’s jumping off buildings, landing on her feet, and growing claws. Turns out, she's a Mai, a race descended from the Egyptian goddess Bastet.
The lore was actually pretty deep. The Mai have:
- Superhuman speed and reflexes.
- Enhanced hearing (which Chloe struggled to control at first).
- Night vision.
- The ability to sense human emotions.
- Nine lives.
But there’s a catch. A big one. If a Mai gets too "intimate" with a human—specifically, if they kiss—the human dies. It’s a paralyzing neurotoxin thing. This created the ultimate teen drama roadblock for Chloe’s relationship with Brian, the human boy who was, of course, the son of the man trying to kill her.
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The Order was the group hunting them. They’ve been at it for thousands of years. They believe the Mai are an abomination. It was your classic star-crossed lovers meet ancient blood feud setup, but with a lot more parkour.
The Book vs. The Show: A Total Mess
If you tried to read the books by Liz Braswell (writing as Celia Thomson) to find out what happens, you probably got super confused. The show took the basic "cat girl" premise and basically threw the rest of the book plot in the trash.
In the books, the tone is way darker. Chloe is... well, she's kind of a brat. She has a filthy mouth and treats her friends Paul and Amy pretty terribly. The TV version of Chloe was much more "ABC Family friendly"—likable, charming, and genuinely cared about her "pride." Also, in the books, the Mai are more like a cult living together in a big house, whereas the show kept them integrated into society.
That Ending Though: The 2011 Cliffhanger Explained
The finale of The Nine Lives of Chloe King was brutal. Brian’s grandmother (the real villain of the piece) sent an assassin named Simone to finish Chloe. Simone shoots Chloe. Chloe dies. That’s life number one (or two, depending on how you count the Coit Tower fall) gone.
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Then comes the "Oh Mai God" moment.
Brian finds Chloe. He’s crying. He tells her he loves her. He kisses her. Since she’s technically "dead" at that moment, the curse doesn't immediately kill him, or maybe it does? He collapses. Alek—the "bad boy" Mai protector who was also in love with Chloe—shows up and finds them both.
Then we see Jasmine (Chloe’s Mai mentor/friend) getting stabbed by her own boyfriend, Zane. It was a bloodbath. The screen went black, and fans waited for a Season 2 announcement that never came.
The "Salvation" Script: The Closure We Deserved
Since the show was axed due to low ratings (it was pulling about 1.1 million viewers, which was "low" back then—ironic, right?), the creators eventually released a script for a TV movie called The Nine Lives of Chloe King: Salvation.
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If you haven't read it, here is the "too long; didn't read" version of what was supposed to happen:
- Brian survives. He's part of a line called "The Pure," which makes him somewhat resistant to the Mai curse.
- Alek is Brian’s uncle. Yeah. Alek’s father was a "Pure" human who had an affair with a Mai.
- The Curse is broken. There was a prophecy that if the Uniter loved the offspring of her enemy, the curse would break.
- Chloe chooses Alek. Sorry, Team Brian. In the final moments of the script, Chloe realizes her feelings for Alek are the real deal.
Why It Still Matters in 2026
You'd think a ten-episode show from fifteen years ago would be forgotten. It isn't. You still see Chloe King edits on TikTok. Why? Because it was one of the few urban fantasy shows that didn't feel like a Twilight clone. It had a female lead who was physically powerful, a diverse cast (shoutout to Ki Hong Lee as Paul before Maze Runner), and a mythology that felt fresh.
Honestly, the show was just expensive. Shooting on location in San Francisco and all those stunts cost more than a standard teen soap. ABC Family (now Freeform) wasn't ready to sink that kind of cash into a show that wasn't an instant blockbuster like PLL.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Rewatchers
If you’re planning a rewatch or just discovering the show now, here is the best way to consume the story without losing your mind over the ending:
- Watch the 10 episodes on Amazon or Disney+ (availability varies by region, but it's usually there).
- Seek out the "Salvation" script. It’s the only way to get the real ending. Don't rely on the books for closure; they are a completely different timeline.
- Check out the cast’s later work. Skyler Samuels was great in The Gifted, and Ki Hong Lee became a literal movie star. It’s fun to see where they started.
- Ignore the "Uniter" prophecy in the show. Since it never got to play out, just treat the show as a coming-of-age story about a girl finding her tribe.
The "Mai" might be a forgotten piece of TV history to most, but for those of us who were there in the summer of 2011, Chloe King will always have a few lives left.
Next Step: Find the Salvation script online to read the full dialogue of that final Chloe and Alek moment.