Petitioning for Anne with an E

Nine months after the cancellation of the cult favourite show based on Anne of Green Gables, fans are still rallying to save Anne with an E.

More than one million fans signed a viral Change.org petition calling for Netflix and the CBC to save the show, making it the largest entertainment petition to target Netflix in Change.org history.

Upon hitting the onemillion signature milestone, the hashtag #AnneOneMillion began trending on Twitter — even in countries such as Russia, Peru and Italy – showing its international appeal.

Netflix/CBC announced in November 2019 that Anne with an E, would be cancelled after three seasons.

Fans were deeply upset, taking to Twitter under the hashtag #SaveAnneWithAnE in the U.S. and Canada and #RenewAnneWithAnE in the U.K., both of which were trending in the top 10 at the time. Fans even created custom art pleading for renewal.

Executive producer Miranda de Pencier addressed the petition late last year — which at the time had amassed about 66,000 signatures — to tell fans that “there is just no way to revive Anne with an E anywhere at this point. It will not happen.” Yet fans clearly still hold out hope – especially with reaching this petition milestone.

TV shows have been saved by co-ordinated fan campaigns and viral petitions in the past. In one memorable instance, fans petitioned to save The Expanse after it was cancelled by SyFy – and they were heard. It was picked up by Amazon, which cited the online fan response as a major motivating factor in its decision.