Honestly, it’s rare to see a show get canceled years ago and still trigger a massive digital uprising every single week. Most TV shows just fade away. They end, we say "that was nice," and we move on to the next Netflix binge. But the Anne with an E TV series is built differently. It’s been years since Northwood Entertainment and CBC parted ways with Netflix, yet if you search the title on X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok today, you’ll find a wall of fans still demanding a Season 4. It’s not just about the red hair or the pretty Canadian landscapes.
It’s about how this show took a "safe" 1908 novel and turned it into something gritty, messy, and deeply modern.
When Moira Walley-Beckett—who, by the way, won an Emmy for writing "Ozymandias" on Breaking Bad—signed on to adapt Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, people expected tea parties. They expected "bosom friends" and puffed sleeves. What they got was a protagonist with literal PTSD. Amybeth McNulty’s Anne wasn’t just a whimsical chatterbox; she was a survivor of childhood trauma. This shift is exactly why the show became a cult phenomenon and why its cancellation felt like a betrayal to millions.
The Gritty Realism That Divided Classic Fans
If you grew up watching the 1985 Megan Follows version, the Anne with an E TV series probably felt like a bit of a shock to your system. It’s dark. The first few episodes lean heavily into the flashbacks of Anne’s time in the asylum and her previous foster homes. We see the physical abuse. We see the cold, haunting loneliness of a child who has been told she is "less than" because of her status as an orphan.
Some purists hated it. They thought it stripped the joy out of Montgomery’s world. But for a newer generation, this was the first time Anne Shirley felt like a real person instead of a storybook character.
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The show tackled things the original books barely touched or ignored entirely. Think about the storyline with Bash (Sebastian Lacroix), played by Dalmar Abuzeid. Adding a Black character to the world of Avonlea wasn't just "diversity for the sake of it." It was a historically grounded exploration of the "The Bog," a real-life Black community in Prince Edward Island that history books often leave out. It brought a level of intellectual depth to the Anne with an E TV series that made it more than just a period drama. It became a social commentary.
Why Netflix and CBC Actually Broke Up
The "Save Anne with an E" campaign reached a point where fans actually paid for a billboard in Times Square. They bought ad space in the UK. They even sent letters to the Netflix headquarters. But to understand why the show hasn't come back, you have to look at the boring business stuff that happens behind the scenes.
It wasn't about the ratings. Not really.
In late 2019, Catherine Tait, the CEO of CBC, made it pretty clear that they were moving away from deals with Netflix. She basically said that the Canadian broadcaster didn't want to be a "junior partner" to the American streaming giant anymore. They felt like they were helping Netflix grow its brand at the expense of their own domestic industry. When two massive media entities stop playing nice, the shows caught in the middle usually die. The Anne with an E TV series was the casualty of a corporate divorce.
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Netflix holds certain "hold-back" periods in their contracts. This is standard in the industry, but it’s a nightmare for fans. It usually means a show can’t be shopped to another network for several years after cancellation. By the time those rights revert, the actors have aged, the sets are gone, and the momentum has shifted. Amybeth McNulty is in Stranger Things now. Lucas Jade Zumann (Gilbert Blythe) has moved on to other projects. The window for a direct continuation is closing, if it hasn't slammed shut already.
The Themes That Still Burn Brightly
What’s wild is how the show’s themes—consent, queer identity, and indigenous rights—are more relevant now than they were when Season 3 dropped.
The storyline involving Ka’kwet, a Mi’kmaq girl, is perhaps the most heartbreaking and "un-Anne-like" thing in the series. It deals with the horrors of Canada’s residential school system. It’s a heavy, brutal arc that ends on a cliffhanger that we might never see resolved. Most shows would have given a happy ending where Anne saves the day. This show didn't. It stayed true to the grim reality of the time, and that honesty is what keeps the fandom alive.
- Gender Equality: Anne’s "Fairness for All" protest.
- Queer Representation: Aunt Josephine’s "soirees" and Cole’s journey of self-discovery.
- Mental Health: Acknowledging that "imagination" was often a coping mechanism for survival.
Dealing with the "What Happens Next" Syndrome
If you're one of the people still mourning the Anne with an E TV series, you're probably stuck on the cliffhangers. Season 3 ended with Anne and Gilbert finally—finally—confessing their feelings and heading off to separate colleges. It felt like a beginning, not an end.
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In the books, the story goes on forever. They get married. They have children. Gilbert becomes a doctor. Anne becomes a teacher and eventually a writer. But the show was building toward something different. It was building toward Anne finding her own identity outside of just being "the girl from Green Gables."
How to Support the Legacy Today
Since a Season 4 isn't currently in production, the best way to keep the spirit of the Anne with an E TV series alive is to engage with the actual history and creators who made it special.
- Read the Mi’kmaq History: Since the Ka’kwet storyline was left unfinished, educate yourself on the real history of the residential schools in Canada. It provides a sobering context to the show's most controversial arc.
- Follow the Cast's Current Work: Amybeth McNulty and Dalila Bela (Diana Barry) are incredibly vocal about the show's impact. Supporting their new projects keeps their profiles high, which indirectly keeps the show's name in the trades.
- Visit Prince Edward Island (The Right Way): If you ever go to P.E.I., don't just go to the "Green Gables" house. Look for the historical tours that include the history of the Black and Indigenous communities the show highlighted.
- Watch "The Making of" Content: There are deep-dive interviews with Moira Walley-Beckett where she discusses the specific literary choices she made. It’s a masterclass in adaptation.
The Anne with an E TV series was never meant to be a simple remake. It was a reclamation of a classic character for a world that finally understood her trauma. Even if we never get another frame of footage, the three seasons we have are a complete tonal shift in how we view "wholesome" literature. It proved that you can be "kindred spirits" while still acknowledging the darker parts of the human experience.
The show taught us that "willful" is just another word for "determined," and that’s a legacy that doesn't need a fourth season to be valid.