''I Am Not Okay with This'' is an American

coming-of-age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

television series based on the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

of the same name by Charles Forsman. The series stars

Sophia Lillis Sophia Lillis (born February 13, 2002) is an American actress. She starred as Beverly Marsh in the horror films '' It'' (2017) and '' It: Chapter Two'' (2019), as well as a teenager with telekinesis in the Netflix drama series '' I Am Not Okay ...

, Wyatt Oleff, Sofia Bryant, and Kathleen Rose Perkins. The series was released on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

on February 26, 2020, and received positive reviews, with praise for the performances, particularly for Lillis and Oleff. This series follows the story of an emotionally turbulent teenage girl, Sydney Novak (Lillis), who discovers that she has psychokinetic powers that are triggered by strong emotions. As the series progresses she aims to gain control over her powers while navigating the complicated relationships of her life. She navigates the coping of her father's death, an estranged relationship with her mother (Perkins), a blossoming friendship with Stanley Barber (Oleff), and her feelings towards her best friend and possible crush, Dina (Bryant). Originally renewed for a second season,

canceled the series in August 2020, citing "circumstances related to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Cast and characters

Main

as Sydney Novak, a 17-year-old

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

girl who begins to realize that she has telekinetic powers * Wyatt Oleff as Stanley "Stan" Barber, Sydney's neighbor and friend * Sofia Bryant as Dina, Sydney's best friend, whom she has a crush on * Kathleen Rose Perkins as Maggie Novak, Sydney's widowed mother

Recurring

* Aidan Wojtak-Hissong as Liam Novak, Sydney's younger brother * Richard Ellis as Brad Lewis, Dina's jock boyfriend whom Sydney dislikes * David Theune as Mr. Peter File, the high school science teacher * Zachary S. Williams as Ricky Berry, confident, monied jock and Brad's best friend * Jackson Frazer as Richard Rynard, a bully who torments Liam and whom Sydney confronts Photographs of Alex Lawther and

Jessica Barden Jessica Amy Barden (born 21 July 1992) is an English actress. She began her career as a child actress. She is best known for her role as Alyssa Foley in the Channel 4 comedy-drama '' The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019). She received a B ...

are briefly used as an

easter egg Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian holiday of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are commonly used during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The ...

to their respectively portrayed characters James and Alyssa from '' The End of the F***ing World'' (2017–2019), the events of which are intended to be taking place simultaneously with those of ''I Am Not Okay with This''.

Episodes

Production

On December 12, 2018,

announced it had given the production a series order for an eight-episode first season, of which only seven were produced. The series was created by Jonathan Entwistle and Christy Hall, who executive produced alongside

Shawn Levy Shawn Adam Levy (; born July 23, 1968) is a Canadian and American filmmaker and actor. He is the founder of 21 Laps Entertainment. His work has spanned numerous genres, and his films as a director have grossed a collective $3.5 billion worldwid ...

, Dan Levine, Dan Cohen, and Josh Barry. Entwistle also directed the series. Alongside the series announcement, it was announced that

, Sofia Bryant, Wyatt Oleff, and Kathleen Rose Perkins would star in the series, with Aidan Wojtak-Hissong and Richard Ellis recurring in the series. Filming commenced in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in June 2019. The town of

Brownsville, Pennsylvania Brownsville is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States, first settled in 1785 as the site of a trading post a few years after the defeat of the Iroquois enabled a resumption of westward migration after the American Revolutionary ...

served as a primary location, while

Wilmerding Wilmerding is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,781 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Pittsburgh. At the start of the twentieth century, it had extensive foundries and machine shops o ...

's Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School was used as the high school exterior. The series was released on February 26, 2020. The series was renewed by Netflix for a second season. On August 21, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after one season, stating "COVID-related circumstances".

Reception

On the

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website

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, the series has an 87% approval rating with 67 reviews, with an average rating of 6.82/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "As awkward and charming as adolescence, but with twice the supernatural twists, ''I Am Not Okay With This'' first season at times veers into shallow territory, but Sophia Lillis' strong performance keeps it afloat." Review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gave the series a score of 68 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The series was nominated for " Best Adaptation from Comic Book/Graphic Novel" at the 2020

Harvey Awards The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which wer ...

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2019–present) 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American black comedy television series 2020s American high school television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2020s American teen television series American English-language television shows Netflix original programming American television series about teenagers Television shows about telekinesis Television shows based on American comics Television shows filmed in Pennsylvania Television shows filmed in Pittsburgh Television shows set in Pennsylvania Television productions cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic