As many may or may not know, Kenny Ortega’s contract with Netflix is officially over and he has signed back with his original talent agency, Paradigm. Why does anyone care? Because this means there is a perfect chance for “Julie and the Phantoms” to return for a largely anticipated second season after being canceled by Netflix. Fans may never know why Netflix constantly cancels its best shows, like “Anne with an E,” but at least there is hope for this one. 

Anyway, fans are not so patiently waiting for confirmation that “Julie and the Phantoms” will be brought back, perhaps on Disney+. That would certainly enhance my previous debate with Brian Keim, the opinion editor of The Carroll News, over which streaming service has the best original content. Besides that, “Julie and the Phantoms” was another masterpiece made by Ortega. Every kid who has danced around their room while imagining a packed audience in front of them swooned over the show and its lighthearted, musical story. 

The cast has also shown signs, which have led die-hard fans (especially me) to believe, that season two is in close grasp. Charlie Gillespie, who plays Luke, cut his hair recently after having worn it long for another show. Even though this seems like nothing, he once said he would never cut his hair short unless he was once again playing Luke. 

Madison Reyes, Julie herself, posted a TikTok on Monday night about a photo shoot that she had to do for season one of the show, which many fans in the comments thought was another tease to the second season. A week before that post, her sister danced on Reyes’ TikTok to a caption that read: “Me dancing to distract the security guards at Netflix so y’all can sneak in and convince them to make a second season.” This also got quite a few fans talking about yet another hint from the cast. 

Last but certainly not least, Jeremy Shada, who plays Reggie on the show, posted a video in February of him singing one of the “Julie and the Phantoms” songs, literally entitled “This Band is Back.” If that isn’t a sign then I guess everyone reads into things way too much. 

Overall, it isn’t a lot after reading back through it, but that does not matter to me or any other fan of the franchise. After four years with little to no hope of the show coming back, these small signs give us all something to look forward to regarding “Julie and the Phantoms.” At the very least, fans will request a statement from Ortega that resolves the cliffhanger that we were left with at the end of the first season if we cannot have anything else. 

I still just think it’s extremely unfortunate that a lot of shows like this one get canceled because they don’t quite meet the hype that would give them another season, especially after a cliffhanger. I mentioned “Anne with an E” earlier, which was one of the best coming-of-age shows I’ve watched in my lifetime, and it was also a Netflix original that got canceled before they could resolve the cliffhanger in season three. 

Personally, I think Netflix should change the way they determine whether or not they should cancel a show, but for all anyone knows they were losing a lot of money with both of these originals. Let’s hope that “Julie and the Phantoms” will make it back onto our screens in some way or another before all of the actors turn 30, and that Ortega continues to make movies and shows that shape our childhoods (and adult lives).