The Society: Complete Story and Character Guide

Lord of the Flies in Connecticut — one town, no adults, and the forest that hides another Earth. Cancelled on a coup.

The Society premiered on Netflix on May 10, 2019, running for one season of 10 episodes. Created by Christopher Keyser (Party of Five) and executive produced by Marc Webb and Pavlina Hatoupis, the mystery teen drama is a modern Lord of the Flies — a town of wealthy West Ham, Connecticut kids who return from a stench-driven bus trip to find every adult gone and an endless forest where roads used to be. According to Deadline and Variety, Netflix renewed the series in July 2019 for a late-2020 Season 2, then reversed the decision on August 21, 2020, citing "circumstances created by COVID" — uncertainty around production dates, a large ensemble's availability, and COVID-driven budget increases as the planned summer shoot slipped into fall and winter.

The show's coda — Allie's mother Amanda reading Peter Pan before a "We Remember Them" memorial wall with yellow ribbons, the same dog Charlie at her feet — confirmed the central mystery the Committee on Going Home had deduced: an unscheduled solar eclipse and a shifted Betelgeuse proved no satellites remained between them and the moon. As Gordie and Bean concluded, this Earth branched.

Full Season Recap — Season 1 (2019)

What Happened — The Trip & New Ham

A mysterious stench blankets West Ham. The school charters buses for a 10-day trip; driver Pfeiffer returns the convoy the same night claiming the road to camp is blocked. The next morning every parent, sibling and teacher has vanished — phones work town-to-town but not outside, roads end in a sudden tree line and train tracks are severed. An early scouting party loses Emily (Chloe Levine) to a snakebite in the woods. Cassandra Pressman (Rachel Keller), type-A natural leader with a congenital heart defect, forces rationing, communal cafeteria meals, housing shares and a work rotation. Harry Bingham (Alex Fitzalan) bristles at sharing his mansion. At a brawl in the hardware store over flashlights, a car explodes — the town learns freedom without rules is lethal.

The Cassandra Murder & Allie's Reluctant Rule

Cassandra is shot twice in the stomach after a prom where she is ignored despite creating order — killer seen only as heels and a cocked gun. Gordie extracts bullets; the town holds a funeral. Allie Pressman (Kathryn Newton), Cassandra's younger sister who grew up in her shadow, is persuaded by Gordie to assume leadership. She creates the Guard — mostly football players Grizz (Jack Mulhern), Luke (Alex MacNicoll), Clark (Spencer House) and Jason (Emilio Garcia-Sanchez) — to patrol and confiscates guns (Helena refuses). When Greg Dewey is identified as Cassandra's killer via matching bullets and Harry's relayed confession, Allie presides over a jury trial with Helena as defender. Dewey claims Campbell planned it, is found guilty and executed by the Guard's collective firing squad — some guns without bullets so no one knows who killed — with Allie herself delivering the final shot. Sam Eliot (Sean Berdy), Allie and Cassandra's deaf cousin, reveals Campbell (Toby Wallace) is a diagnosed psychopath who nearly drowned Elle in a bathtub to assert control.

Thanksgiving, the Pie and the Pregnancy

Five months later, Thanksgiving. Food inventory warns supplies fail by next summer, so Grizz plans an expedition beyond the forest for farmable land. Becca Gelb (Gideon Adlon), Sam's best friend who discovers she is pregnant pre-trip, hides the father's identity while Sam promises to raise the baby as his own; Helena and Luke navigate faith and sex; Elle Tomkins (Olivia DeJonge), the outcast who became Campbell's girlfriend, endures abuse and poisons a pumpkin pie with antifreeze to kill him — but Campbell brings the pie to the communal dinner, endangering everyone. Elle confesses to Allie, asking to be arrested for protection; Allie quietly jails her without revealing why. Sam's secret — he found town-hall records that a $1.5M contract to remove the smell was refused the day before the buses came — is suppressed after Campbell persuades him to cover it up, but Sam photographs the papers first.

The Election & the Coup — "How It Happens"

Will LeClair (Jacques Colimon), the foster-kid outsider who becomes Allie's moral compass and kitchen lead, tells Allie she should call elections; she refuses, fearing division, but relents when Lexie Pemberton (Grace Victoria Cox) — who was publicly humiliated and strip-searched by the Guard — declares against her with Harry as co-mayor candidate. Lexie runs on *no work, no Guard* and wins populist support from the tired. Campbell supplies Harry with pills, keeping him addicted and pliant, and convinces Harry, Clark and Jason to stage a coup rather than risk the vote, coercing Luke to join by threatening Helena. Kelly Aldrich (Kristine Froseth), Harry's girlfriend who discovers the Pfeiffer photo and helps deliver Eden, gathers Gordie, Bean and Helena to decode the mystery while Becca goes into labor. In a church basement, Becca gives birth to Eden with Kelly and Gordie as Sam translates — the season's only pure joy. Minutes later, the Guard arrests Allie and Will on false charges of rigging the election; Campbell forces Elle to spit on Allie, but Elle whispers *I will get what's coming* — setting up Season 2's revenge. Lexie and Harry announce co-mayorship, postponing council elections as a mob stones Allie — Lexie blinks and stops it. Grizz's party returns mid-coup shouting they found open fields, wildlife and fish — survival is possible. The final cut hardens the sci-fi: in real West Ham, Amanda Pressman pets Charlie the dog and reads Peter Pan to children before a plaque listing every missing teen, yellow ribbons worn for hope — confirming New Ham is a parallel Earth and the graffiti bus sign "West Sham" was a warning.

Character Guide

Allie Pressman — The Reluctant Mayor

Kathryn Newton plays Cassandra's younger sister, shadowed then thrust into power. Allie's arc is grief into governance — she loathes authority but enforces it, from rationing to execution, learning that leadership means being hated. Her ASL-bond with Will and her mercy to Elle humanize her.

Cassandra Pressman — The Martyr

Rachel Keller's perfectionist with a heart condition who builds New Ham's first society in a weekend. Her murder is the show's inciting sacrifice — order without its author.

Will LeClair — The Conscience

Jacques Colimon's foster-kid outsider who knows hunger. Head of the cafeteria, he grounds Allie, loves her platonically then romantically, and is arrested beside her — the only boy who never wanted power.

Becca Gelb & Sam Eliot — The Found Family

Gideon Adlon's Becca is the sassy documentarian who hides a pregnancy; Sean Berdy's Sam is her deaf best friend, Campbell's brother and Allie's cousin, who interprets, keeps secrets, and finds love with Grizz. Their baby Eden becomes New Ham's first native citizen.

Campbell Eliot — The Psychopath

Toby Wallace's Sam's older brother, diagnosed psychopath, charismatic and violently misogynistic. He grooms Elle, addicts Harry, engineers Dewey's death and the coup — the show's true revolutionary who wants absolute control.

Harry Bingham & Kelly Aldrich — The Rich Kids

Alex Fitzalan's Harry, the Bingham heir forced to house 20 kids, slides from entitled to addicted and coup puppet; Kristine Froseth's Kelly, his girlfriend turned investigator, discovers Pfeiffer, delivers Eden, and becomes Allie's loyal opposition.

Grizz & Sam — The Explorers

Jack Mulhern's Grizz, the Guard's gentle giant who breaks after Dewey's execution and learns British Sign Language (then ASL) for Sam, leads the farming expedition that saves New Ham. Their romance is the show's quiet hope.

Helena & Luke — Faith and Football

Natasha Liu Bordizzo's devout Helena, keeper of her father's guns and spiritual advisor, and Alex MacNicoll's quarterback Luke, who proposes properly then is coerced into the coup, embody church-and-state tension — Helena refusing to surrender the last pistol.

Elle Tomkins — The Survivor

Olivia DeJonge's pariah who mistakes Campbell's obsession for love, suffers abuse, poisons the pie, then trusts Allie enough to be jailed for safety — her spit on Allie is performance for Campbell's surveillance, with a private promise of revenge.

Gordie & Bean — The Scientists

Jose Julian's Gordie, who crushed on Cassandra, and Salena Qureshi's Bean prove the parallel universe via eclipse almanac, Betelgeuse shift and missing satellites, naming the town New Ham.

Lexie, the Guard & Pfeiffer — The System

Grace Victoria Cox's Lexie, the exploited worker who weaponizes grievance; Clark, Jason and the Guard who become police; and Mr. Pfeiffer (Chaske Spencer), the bus driver who offered to remove the smell for $1.5M, refused, and — as Sam's photo proves — drove them to New Ham. The bus's "West Sham" graffiti and yellow ribbons in West Ham tie his contract to the branching.

Ending Explained

The finale confirms Gordie and Bean: an eclipse ten days after the smell contract, ten years before the next North American total eclipse in 2024 per Farmer's Almanac, and a missing satellite field mean they are not in West Ham. The post-credits memorial and Peter Pan reading ("she thought this was just a dream, hanging around her still") show parents believe the children are dead/missing, not transported. Pfeiffer — seen arguing with Harry's mother and Sam's father the day before — is the mechanism, but whether parents sacrificed them or were punished remains unanswered. According to Variety and Deadline, Season 2 would have built the Outpost (the farmable field Grizz found) and a war between Outpost and town over control, plus answers to *why* they were taken and *how* to return.

Why Was The Society Cancelled?

Netflix cancelled The Society on August 21, 2020, despite a July 2019 renewal and scripts not yet written for Season 2 (vs I Am Not Okay With This which had scripts). According to EW, THR and Deadline, Netflix liked performance but reversed due to COVID — uncertainty around production dates, large ensemble availability, and budget increases as the planned summer shoot slipped into fall and winter in Devens, Massachusetts sets. Creator Christopher Keyser told Variety it was "obviously pretty upsetting and abrupt" after months preparing COVID protocols; star Kathryn Newton called it "heartbroken" on Instagram. The YA drama joined I Am Not Okay With This as the first high-profile COVID cancellations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Every cancelled show deserves a proper ending. Read our fan-written ending for The Society — the Outpost, the choice to cross between Earths, and who stays. Explore our library of fan-written conclusions for more shows that left too soon, including Warrior Nun. For why streamers cut beloved shows, see how streaming services decide what to cancel and Warrior Nun guide.