"Insatiable," the Controversial Netflix Series, Has Been Renewed for a Second Season
One of Netflix's most controversial shows is really living up to its name. The platform announced on Sept. 12 that it had renewed its divisive comedy series Insatiable for a second season, according to a press release.
The series, which stars former Disney Channel star Debby Ryan in the leading role, follows a fat, unpopular high schooler nicknamed "Fatty Patty" who loses a significant amount of weight over a summer, and when she returns for the new school year, seeks revenge on people who are mean to her.
Upon its release, Insatiable generated a significant deal of controversy, with many viewers believing that at its core, the show was not a satirical look at the modern teen experience, but rather a fatphobic, LGBTQ-bashing, and sexual assault–mocking narrative. The use of a fatsuit in flashback scenes was also widely contested.
Despite the backlash the show received — and it really was a lot — Debby believed the show succeeded in what it set out to do, and that the fatsuit was an integral part of developing Patty's identity. “There was a point where [the showrunner] and I are like, ‘If at any point this is funny, if at any point people laugh, we’re not doing it.’ We’re not doing the show that we’re trying to do. We’re just trying to portray an origin story. We’re trying to showcase that," Debby told Teen Vogue last month. “We knew that this conversation needed to be had. We knew that this societal brokenness needed to be addressed, but we didn’t know how badly it needed to be addressed. My friend, a few days before the trailer hit, in reference to something else, said, ‘The size of the reaction is the size of the wound,’ and it stayed with me.”
Unsurprisingly, the social media reaction has been just as divisive for the show's renewal, with fans and detractors duking it out.
The new season is set to debut in 2019.
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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: Insatiable Isn't Actually About Fat People, and That's a Problem
