In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb to discuss her upcoming horror film, There’s Something Wrong with the Children, actress Alisha Wainwright talked about the cancelation of the Netflix series, Raising Dion. The superpower-focused series followed widow and single mother Nicole (Wainwright), whose young son Dion (Ja’Siah Young) begins to develop superpowers. The answer to the mystery of how Dion developed his powers seems to stem from an arctic scientific exposition by his late father, Mark (Michael B. Jordan).

The first two seasons of Raising Dion received strong ratings from critics, who praised the series’ story and character development, as well as its family-friendly tone. However, a two-year hiatus between seasons 1 and 2 likely lost the show a sizable portion of its audience, resulting in a cancelation back in April of this year.

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When the news broke that the series would not be moving forward with season 3, Wainwright went to social media to express her disappointment.

So #RaisingDion got canceled.

Being a part of Raising Dion changed my life for the better and I will be forever grateful to the producers who helped me bring Nicole to life.

I’m heartbroken that our show isn’t moving forward with another season, not only because I won’t get to work with my amazing cast and crew in the same way again, but because I feel Raising Dion did so much for little black and brown children and children with disabilities. I wish we could give them more stories in our wonderful Dion world. My heart aches for the little ones.

I hope you enjoyed what we put out there and I look forward to seeing my peers create other projects that touch the lives of our community

Reflecting on Cancellation

     Netflix

When asked about the show not returning for a third season, the Wainwright could not mask her sadness. “Yeah, naturally, I’m super upset [that it was canceled],” she said. “It was my first leading role in a TV show, and not only that, I was so lucky to work with incredible producers and incredible actors and directors. It was just such a joy to make that project.”

Wainwright provided a little insight it what we could have expected from the third season had it been picked up. “I knew what season three would have been, and it was wild,” said Wainwright. “I think the theory with the show was that they wanted to age it up as Dion grew, so that he grew with his audience or the audience grew with him. They grew together. The third season was going to be more of a preteen sort of vibe, and I thought that was really fun.”

Despite the cancelation, Wainwright looks back on the experience in a positive light. “It is a bummer to see it go but, I learned a lot from it,” she said. “I can take a lot of that experience with me onward. It’s nice to be recognized for a show that’s inspiring to a lot of little kids. It’s a great family show. Every person that has come up to me has said that they love the show, so that feels good.”