‘Boons and Curses’ Team Opens Up About “Devastating” Netflix Cancellation
Last Friday was supposed to be a day of celebration for Jaydeep Hasrajani and Jake Goldman, co-executive producers for Boons and Curses, the animated series that had been in production at Netflix after Hasrajani pitched it to the streamer back in late 2019.
Indeed, the show’s team was set to ship their first episode to the studio that day and had even made plans to toast with congratulatory drinks. Instead, Friday became the day they learned Netflix was cutting the show, with Hasrajani and Goldman being informed of the decision just prior to The Hollywood Reporter’s story reporting the shutdown. The axe fell in the wake of the company announcing on April 19 that it lost 200,000 subscribers in the first quarter.
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“This was a first go at a purely authentic South Asian animated series, and we really rallied behind it as a team and a crew, and it was very genuine and a lot of hard work,” Hasrajani tells THR of the show’s historic nature. “Not only were we able to get a lot of South Asian talent behind the scenes, we were also able to get a lot of allies to help support that vision, and also get an all-South Asian voiceover cast and an all-South Asian writers room. It was pretty outstanding that we were given a wide-reaching platform to make this effort. And so the news that came was pretty devastating.”
Hasrajani and Goldman, who previously worked together on the Powerpuff Girls reboot that launched in 2016, envisioned Boons and Curses as a comedic action series incorporating the South Asian myths familiar to Hasrajani, who describes himself as feeling “perched on that hyphen” as an Indian American. The original project is set in the land of Maya and features Baan, a diminutive warrior transformed into butter by a curse and tasked with standing up to the villainous Raj.
According to the pair, Hasrajani got a yes response from every studio that heard his pitch for the show he hoped would have universal appeal, drawing in anyone who felt pulled between two worlds. Ultimately, Netflix stood out, in part, because of support from a team that includes manager of original animation Jane Lee, who they praise for championing work from AAPI creators. “It was just this environment that was very open to having animation folks really build something they truly believed in,” Hasrajani explains. “And the reach — I really wanted as many folks who were perched on a hyphen to see this world as easily as they could. This was on the onset of streaming, so Netflix seemed like the way to go.”
Goldman touts titles like Samurai Jack, Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of the Rings as reference points for the kind of project they envisioned Boons becoming and, for himself and Hasrajani, it was important that the show have the chance to inspire young people. “Often, whenever you see a South Asian character on screen, they are a butt of a joke, and the accent is used as comedy,” Hasrajani says. “It’s something that a lot of South Asian Americans like myself had to just live through, and honestly, it’s tough. But I really believe that the best way to combat this is some love and creating a beautiful world where kids can pretend to be the hero instead of the joke.”
Although Netflix ultimately decided not to move forward on the series, with sources having cited creative differences, Boons and Curses’ team can at least take solace in knowing they’re in good company. It was also announced Friday that Ada Twist, Scientist creator Chris Nee’s animated series Dino Daycare was similarly cut loose before its debut and, a few days later, the public learned the same fate had befallen Meghan Markle’s animated series Pearl, which had landed a straight-to-series order. Following the Pearl news, Nee tweeted that she “can’t imagine anyone can feel safe as they seem to just be on a killing spree. As soon as the ink is dry on one, they’ve moved on to the next. Intense environment to be in.”
As for Boons, Goldman describes the entire show’s team as “heartbroken” after learning Netflix was shutting things down and says he felt in the dark about what led to the decision. “There was not necessarily a reason that was given to us that I think we could genuinely find acceptable,” he says. “One of the main things about the show was that this was a comedy action show, and so we were just trying to get it to the right audience.”
Hasrajani stresses that he and Goldman had been very open to collaborating with Netflix and describes what he found to be a “healthy partnership” between themselves and Lee. “We don’t want to be hard to work with — we love talking our ideas out,” he says. “We love getting clarity, extra clarity, over-communication.” When asked about notes that Netflix may have shared prior to production ending, Hasrajani quips, “We were given some feedback that they said that it would be hard to find an audience for this content — which, last time I checked, there’s quite a few South Asian people in the world.”
As to whether a bigger shift in animation strategy might be at play at Netflix, the Boons EPs said they wouldn’t have been privy to those conversations, and Hasrajani maintains that people at the company still feel like family to them. Goldman concurs: “There’s still some just genuinely amazing stories that are being told all around town here at Netflix.”
Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
For now, the producers remain optimistic that they’ll land a home for the show, empowered by the desire to tell stories centering on an underserved community and also to continue to support the 60-plus members of the show’s crew, many of whom landed their first Hollywood jobs on the project. “We’re trying to look for a place that understands that a story like this is about more than just numbers or data — that this is about reach and meaningful storytelling, that this is something that comes from an authentic heart,” Goldman says. “One of the most amazing things that happened this weekend, since the news broke, has actually been the outreach from just about every corner on town. People have been reaching out and asking us, ‘What’s next? Where’s Boons at?’ And that they want us to come on in.”
Perhaps most importantly, the producing partners hope they can inspire future creators to push for a different entertainment landscape. “Being a POC creator, there’s a lot of burden on your shoulders because you’re the first of your kind,” Hasrajani says. “I truly believe if young people can see a POC leader do it, that means they can do it. Not everyone is able to get the chance because society views people a certain way. It may unintentionally close doors in animation — and media and entertainment in general. So Boons was a really big opportunity to set a precedent that, ‘Hey, you can do this, and hopefully, you can do it better than we did.'”
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