Anne with an E

Anne with an E
Genre	Drama
Created by	Moira Walley-Beckett
Based on	Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Screenplay by	Moira Walley-Beckett
Starring	Amybeth McNulty Geraldine James R. H. Thomson Lucas Jade Zumann Dalila Bela Corrine Koslo Aymeric Jett Montaz
Opening theme	"Ahead by a Century" by The Tragically Hip
Country of origin	Canada
Original languages	English Mi'kmaq French
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	27 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Elizabeth Bradley Alex Sapot Sally Catto Debra Hayward Alison Owen Miranda de Pencier Moira Walley-Beckett Ken Girotti
Producers	Susan Murdoch John Calvert
Cinematography	Bobby Shore
Running time	44 minutes
Production companies	Pelican Ballet Northwood Entertainment
Original release
Network	CBC Television Netflix
Release	March 19, 2017 (2017-03-19) – November 24, 2019 (2019-11-24)

Anne with an E, initially titled Anne for its first season, is a Canadian drama television series based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and adapted by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Moira Walley-Beckett. It airs on CBC Television in Canada, and elsewhere in the world it is available for streaming on Netflix. The series premiered on March 19, 2017 on CBC, and on May 12 internationally.

On August 3, 2017, CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a ten-episode second season, which premiered on Netflix on July 6, 2018, and on CBC on September 23, 2018. CBC adopted the Anne with an E name beginning in the second season. In August 2018, CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a ten-episode third season, which premiered on September 22, 2019, on CBC and concluded on November 24, after which it was announced that the series had been cancelled. The final season was released on Netflix outside Canada on January 3, 2020.

Premise

In the late 19th century, brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, both past their prime, decide to take on an orphan boy to help out around their ancestral farm of Green Gables, on the outskirts of the town of Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island. When Matthew goes to pick the child up at the railway station, he finds not a boy, but a high-spirited and talkative girl, Anne Shirley. At first, the Cuthberts are inclined to send her back, particularly after Marilla's brooch goes missing. Anne is sent away, back to the orphanage.

Matthew gets her back, the family reconciles, and Anne settles in her new home. Upon starting school, Anne once again displays boundless enthusiasm but it is easily turned into despair when things go wrong, which they often do. Slowly, her ebullient nature wins over those around her.

Cast

Main

• Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley-Cuthbert
• Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert
• R. H. Thomson as Matthew Cuthbert
• Dalila Bela as Diana Barry
• Lucas Jade Zumann as Gilbert Blythe
• Aymeric Jett Montaz as Jerry Baynard
• Corrine Koslo as Rachel Lynde
• Dalmar Abuzeid as Sebastian "Bash" Lacroix (season 2–3)
• Cory Grüter-Andrew as Cole Mackenzie (season 2–3)

Recurring and guest

• Jonathan Holmes as Mr. William Barry
• Helen Johns as Mrs. Eliza Barry
• Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Minnie May Barry
• Deborah Grover as Josephine Barry
• Wayne Best as John Blythe
• Phillip Williams as Thomas Lynde
• David Ingram as Mr. Harmon Andrews
• Janet Porter as Mrs. Andrews
• Christian Martyn as Billy Andrews
• Lia Pappas-Kemps as Jane Andrews
• Ella Jonas Farlinger as Prissy Andrews
• Jim Annan as Mr. Gillis
• Fiona Byrne as Mrs. Gillis
• Kyla Matthews as Ruby Gillis
• Jacob Ursomarzo as Moody Spurgeon
• Stephen Tracey as Mr. Phillips
• Miranda McKeon as Josie Pye
• Glenna Walters as Tillie Boulter
• Katelyn Wells as Mary Joe
• Jacob Horsley as Charlie Sloane
• Cara Ricketts as Mary LaCroix
• Araya Mengesha as Elijah Hanford
• Kiawenti:io Tarbell as Ka'Kwet
• Ashleigh Stewart as Winifred "Winnie" Rose
• Ines Feghouli as Sandy Baynard
• Joanna Douglas as Miss Muriel Stacy
• Trenna Keating as Mrs. Pye

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired		Netflix release date
			First aired	Last aired
1	7		March 19, 2017 (2017-03-19)	April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30)	May 12, 2017
2	10		September 23, 2018 (2018-09-23)	November 18, 2018 (2018-11-18)	July 6, 2018
3	10		September 22, 2019 (2019-09-22)	November 24, 2019 (2019-11-24)	January 3, 2020

Season 1 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	1	"Your Will Shall Decide Your Destiny"	Niki Caro	Moira Walley-Beckett	March 19, 2017 (2017-03-19)
Anne Shirley, a 13-year-old talkative orphan with a bright imagination, is overjoyed when she is adopted. But when she arrives at Green Gables, she discovers it was a mistake. Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, the aging siblings that run the farm, had sent for a boy. While Matthew immediately likes the girl, Marilla is determined to sent her back, but changes her mind when she gets a glimpse of what Anne's life would be. She agrees to a trial period of one week and Anne is determined to show the Cuthberts that she will be useful on the farm. When their neighbor Mrs. Lynde calls her homely, skinny and redhaired, she loses her temper. Marilla says that Anne must apologize; she is determined not to do so as she is not sorry, but Matthew convinces her to ask Mrs. Lynde for forgiveness, which she does in a dramatical manner. Matthew hires a French boy to help with the farm work. When Anne and Marilla are invited to tea by the Barrys, Anne meets their daughter Diana and they swear to be best friends forever and ever. Upon returning home, Marilla asks Anne to put away her scarf and a treasured brooch, with which Anne plays. When Marilla can't find the brooch later she suspects Anne has stolen it and confronts her. Anne insits she didn't take it but when Marilla threatens to send her away if she doesn't confess she says she lost it while playing with it outside. Anne is sent back, but then Marilla discovers the brooch that had slid into the cushions of her chair. She calls out to Matthew who races to catch up with Anne, but he arrives at the station just after the train with Anne has left.
2	2	"I Am No Bird, and No Net Ensnares Me"	Helen Shaver	Moira Walley-Beckett	March 26, 2017 (2017-03-26)
Plagued with memories of being bullied there, Anne arrives back at the orphanage, while Matthew tries to catch up with her. Marilla, worried and anxious at Green Gables wants to go after them, but Mrs. Lynde convinces her to stay home. Meanwhile Anne has slept outside the orphanage and convinces a milkman to take her with him. When Matthew arrives at the orphanage the matron tells him that Anne has not come back. He asks the milkman for a ride and is told where to find Anne. They reunite at the train station where Anne recites poems for change. She is reluctant to come home with him, but when Matthew calls her his daughter she embraces him. The three attend a church picnic, where Anne runs away after hearing the townspeople's hateful comments. Marilla goes after her and asks for forgiveness. The Cuthberts ask Anne to take their name by signing the family Bible, which she does excitedly.
3	3	"But What Is So Headstrong as Youth?"	Sandra Goldbacher	Moira Walley-Beckett	April 2, 2017 (2017-04-02)
Anne is excited to begin school and make friends, but is unprepared for the bullying that occurs when she doesn't fit in. Marilla too, tests new waters as she accepts an invitation to join a "Progressive Mothers" group.
4	4	"An Inward Treasure is Born"	David Evans	Moira Walley-Beckett	April 9, 2017 (2017-04-09)
Anne is faced with the decision of whether or not to return to school. But a fire at the Gillis house and Anne's resourceful, smart actions help her in her choice.
5	5	"Tightly Knotted to a Similar String"	Patricia Rozema	Moira Walley-Beckett	April 16, 2017 (2017-04-16)
Anne must deal with the sad inevitability of womanhood when she gets her first period. At the same time, Marilla and Matthew acclimatize to parenthood and revisit moments of their youth through Anne.
6	6	"Remorse Is the Poison of Life"	Paul Fox	Moira Walley-Beckett	April 23, 2017 (2017-04-23)
When her little sister Minnie May becomes ill, Diana runs to Anne for help. Meanwhile, the Blythe farm sees change, as Marilla is reminded of what she gave up and Matthew receives some unsettling news.
7	7	"Wherever You Are Is My Home"	Amanda Tapping	Moira Walley-Beckett	April 30, 2017 (2017-04-30)
The Cuthberts vow to do whatever it takes to save the farm, which reminds Anne of the strength of friendship and love.

Season 2 (2018)

The entire second season premiered on Netflix on July 6, 2018, before premiering on CBC on September 23, 2018.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
8	1	"Youth is the Season of Hope"	Helen Shaver	Moira Walley-Beckett	September 23, 2018 (2018-09-23)
The Cuthberts' boarders stir excitement with a question: Could there be gold in Avonlea? Nate offers help the residents of Avonlea in testing their soil for gold for $150 per property. Elsewhere, Gilbert makes a new friend at sea. Anne, Marilla, and Matthew make a trip to the beach.
9	2	"Signs are Small Measurable Things, but Interpretations are Illimitable"	Paul Fox	Shernold Edwards	September 30, 2018 (2018-09-30)
The steamer lands in Trinidad, bringing Bash face to face with his mother and his past. The Barrys get behind the gold rush, but Matthew and Marilla decide not to spend the $150 to have their land tested for gold.
10	3	"The True Seeing is Within"	Ken Girotti	Kathryn Borel, Jr.	October 7, 2018 (2018-10-07)
Anne goes with the Barrys to Charlottetown. There, she and Diana investigate the claims of gold in Avonlea, and are told by a journalist that a scam like this had happened in another part of Canada a few years ago, and claims of gold in Avonlea are also probably fake. Anne tries to warn the Barrys about this, but is sternly rebuffed. Mr. Barry gives all of the money to Nate, who now plans to leave with Dunlop. Anne warns Marilla about Nate and Mr. Dunlop, but they overhear her and tie them up. They escape and notify Matthew of what has happened, and he along with his neighbors ride to try to catch them. Mr. Dunlop is caught, but Nate escapes with all the money.
11	4	"The Painful Eagerness of Unfed Hope"	Anne Wheeler	Jane Maggs	October 14, 2018 (2018-10-14)
Pretending she is Matthew, Anne writes letters to Jeannie to try to rekindle a romance. Matthew eventually finds out and tells Anne how hurt he is with what she has done, which devastates her. Matthew meets Jeannie in town and tells her of Anne's ruse, but that he wants to spend his remaining years raising Anne. Diana and Minnie May are being trained by their mother on how to be a lady, which causes tremendous tension in their household. A pregnant woman needs Gilbert's help to deliver her baby.
12	5	"The Determining Acts of Her Life"	Norma Bailey	Amanda Fahey	October 21, 2018 (2018-10-21)
A game of spin the bottle prompts burning questions about love and beauty. Anne and Cole bond over their differences as Gilbert makes his way home.
13	6	"I Protest Against Any Absolute Conclusion"	Ken Girotti	Naledi Jackson	October 28, 2018 (2018-10-28)
Anne faces the world with a shocking new look while the town preps for its annual Christmas pantomime. Gilbert and Bash join the Cuthberts for dinner.
14	7	"Memory Has as Many Moods as The Temper"	Anne Wheeler	Jane Maggs	November 4, 2018 (2018-11-04)
Cole accompanies the girls to Aunt Josephine's for a lavish party filled with surprises. Back at home, Marilla's health takes a worrisome turn.
15	8	"Struggling Against the Perception of Facts"	Amanda Tapping	Shernold Edwards	November 11, 2018 (2018-11-11)
With a wedding on the horizon, Anne wonders what kind of bride she'd like to be. Marilla sees an oculist, and Bash meets a friendly face in "The Bog."
16	9	"What We Have Been Makes Us What We Are"	Paul Fox	Moira Walley-Beckett	November 18, 2018 (2018-11-18)
A brand-new teacher brings unconventional methods -- and a motorbike -- to Avonlea. Gilbert's plan to speed up his studies leaves Bash feeling lost.
17	10	"The Growing Good of the World"	Paul Fox	Moira Walley-Beckett	November 18, 2018 (2018-11-18)
Anne rallies her friends to save Miss Stacy in the wake of a disastrous incident. Bash gets an unexpected gift, and Cole makes a surprising choice.

Season 3 (2019)

The third and last season was first aired on CBC on September 22, 2019. It premiered on Netflix on January 3, 2020.

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
18	1	"A Secret Which I Desired to Divine"	Anne Wheeler	Moira Walley-Beckett	September 22, 2019 (2019-09-22)
As Anne’s sixteenth birthday approaches, she finds herself longing to know more about her lineage, which strains her relationship with Matthew and Marilla.
19	2	"There is Something at Work in My Soul Which I Do Not Understand"	Kim Nguyen	Jane Maggs	September 29, 2019 (2019-09-29)
Anne's search takes her back to the orphanage, where she's forced to confront her past and new realities. Meanwhile, Elijah pays a visit to Avonlea. Gilbert meets a pretty and unusual young woman, Miss Winifred Rose.
20	3	"What Can Stop the Determined Heart"	Anne Wheeler	Shernold Edwards	October 6, 2019 (2019-10-06)
As Easter approaches, Mary's illness raises alarm in the Blythe/Lacroix home and throughout Avonlea, and the community must come together in new ways to respond.
21	4	"A Hope of Meeting You in Another World"	Norma Bailey	Tracey Deer	October 13, 2019 (2019-10-13)
Matthew permits Anne to continue her search for information about her birth parents, despite Marilla’s misgivings. Bash tries to give Mary's letter to Elijah, as he deals with his grief after Mary's death. Ka’kwet says goodbye to her old life, but finds her new one is not what she imagined. Diana rebels against her parents and yearns for freedom.
22	5	"I Am Fearless and Therefore Powerful"	Paul Fox	Naledi Jackson	October 20, 2019 (2019-10-20)
The school kids practice for the upcoming County Fair barn dance, bringing romantic anxieties to a head. The girls are plagued with fears about marriage and motherhood. Gilbert writes an obituary for Mary in the school newspaper. Jerry walks Diana home from school, and a potential romance begins.
23	6	"The Summit of My Desires"	Norma Bailey	Amanda Fahey	October 27, 2019 (2019-10-27)
Avonlea hosts the Island County Fair, which brings romance, heartbreak, and disaster. Matthew goes head to head with an old friend, while Jerry seizes a unique opportunity.
24	7	"A Strong Effort of the Spirit of Good"	Paul Fox	Kathryn Borel, Jr	November 3, 2019 (2019-11-03)
Anne’s opinion article isn’t received quite as she planned, and unforeseen consequences affect the entire town, as they must learn to become less small-minded and keep up with the changing times. Josie makes a brave decision. Anne and her friends take a stand.
25	8	"Great and Sudden Change"	Amanda Tapping	Jane Maggs	November 10, 2019 (2019-11-10)
The students sit for the Queens entrance exams. Diana finds herself torn between going to Queens and obeying her parents' wishes. Ka'kwet tries to get back home. Bash's mother comes to Avonlea, and Miss Josephine Barry gives Diana and Anne some well needed advice.
26	9	"A Dense and Frightful Darkness"	Paul Fox	Tracey Deer & Shernold Edwards	November 17, 2019 (2019-11-17)
Matthew and Anne journey to bring Ka'kwet back. Gilbert is pressured to choose: Anne or Winifred? Bash and his mother argue about their differences.
27	10	"The Better Feeling of My Heart"	Amanda Tapping	Moira Walley-Beckett	November 24, 2019 (2019-11-24)
Anne steps into the next chapter of her life. Gilbert makes his decision and Diana's parents finally agree to send her to Queen's College. However, Ka'kwet's story remains unfinished.

Production

Development

The production companies are listed as Northwood Anne, Northwood Entertainment and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The executive producers are Miranda de Pencier and series creator Moira Walley-Beckett.

According to de Pencier, the adaptation of the novel for this television series was intended to provide a different look and feel compared to past productions; they were aiming for a "documentary level of realism", as reflected in the extraordinary detail which has gone into the design of sets and costumes.

Production on the third season started in March 2019.

Crew

Besides the show itself having a larger number of female characters than male, women serving as executive producer and showrunner, the series has several female directors. For the second and third seasons, showrunner and scriptwriter Moira Walley-Beckett was joined by a team of women writers.

Casting

Approximately 1800 girls on three continents auditioned for the role of Anne Shirley through an open casting call. Amybeth McNulty was chosen for her ability to deliver dialogue which is "incredibly thick and dynamic and beautiful", according to Miranda de Pencier. Walley-Beckett describes her as at once "luminous", transparent, smart, soulful and emotional. According to an interview with McNulty, an Irish Canadian whose career on stage has included roles in Annie, The Sound of Music, and Oliver!, and on screen in Agatha Raisin and Clean Break, her audition for Anne "consisted of talking to trees, chatting with flowers and building thrones out of twigs."

Filming

The series has occasionally filmed on Prince Edward Island but, for budgetary reasons, it has primarily been filmed in Southern Ontario, at a Toronto studio, at outdoor locations in or near Toronto including Black Creek Pioneer Village, in Waterloo Region at locations including Doon Pioneer Village, Castle Kilbride, New Hamburg, Cambridge, and in communities such as Millbrook, Pickering, Hamilton, and Caledon.

Music

The opening theme is the song "Ahead by a Century" performed and originally composed by Canadian band The Tragically Hip. The series underscore is composed by Amin Bhatia and Ari Posner.

Themes

Moira Walley-Beckett had this to say about her treatment, which is darker than the previous productions: "In this day and age, themes of identity, prejudice, bullying, being an outsider, searching for a way to be accepted and how to belong are entirely topical and super relevant, and those are themes that are built into the story of 'Anne.'" She went on to call Anne Shirley an "accidental feminist", and how she "really wanted to tell this story now". For the second season, according to what she called her "master plan", Walley-Beckett introduced an entirely new character of her own, Bash, to reflect the racial diversity present in and around Charlottetown at the time of the novel, with a view to representing a community absent from previous adaptations, achieving this by having Gilbert travel on a steamship and meet with the new character in Trinidad: "Bash is the vehicle to explore intolerance and inequality, even more when he goes to The Bog, when he learns that other black people live there." Walley-Beckett explained: "The Bog is the community that's just outside of Charlottetown, where people of color were marginalized and had their own community there."

The plan for the third season was to cover topics such as identity, feminism, bullying and gender parity. Walley-Beckett added: "Our beloved Anne will be 16 years old when we return to this season full of romantic complications, bold adventures and dramatic discoveries. I will explore important, contemporary themes that I hope will continue to resonate with, and inspire and uplift, our audience."

Release

The series initially premiered on March 19, 2017, on CBC and aired on a weekly basis, the season finale airing on April 30, 2017. The series debuted on Netflix on May 12, 2017, under the title Anne with an E.

On August 3, 2017, CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a 10-episode second season, which premiered on Netflix on July 6, 2018, and on CBC on September 23, 2018. CBC adopted the Anne with an E name beginning in the second season.

In August 2018, CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a 10-episode third season, which premiered on September 22, 2019, on CBC and was released on Netflix on January 3, 2020.

Cancellation

CBC president Catherine Tait stated in October 2019 that it would no longer involve itself in co-productions with Netflix, as they constitute deals "that hurt the long-term viability of our domestic industry". A day after the third season concluded its Canadian run and despite statements from CBC previously expressing "no doubt that Canadians will continue to fall in love with this beautiful and heartwarming series for seasons to come," Netflix and CBC announced the show's cancellation the morning after the season three finale aired in Canada, marketing the season three release on Netflix as the show's "final season."

Alternate reasons for cancellation were given on November 27 in response to a Twitter campaign to save the show, namely a lack of audience growth in the 25–54 age range, which fans on Twitter and Facebook have challenged by questioning how CBC tracks viewers' ages. Despite the CBC indicating that Netflix had agreed that the third season would be the show's last, fans started a concerted online and offline campaign, much of it led by Twitter fans through the hashtag #renewannewithane. A petition was started by fans to protest the cancellation of the show. Fans also crowdfunded to erect billboards in Toronto and New York City. Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and English singer Sam Smith also tweeted in support of the series.

Reception

Critical response

Season 1

The first season achieved a rating of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 28 reviews for an average rating of 7.11/10 the site's critical consensus stating: "Anne with an E uses its complex central character to offer a boldly stylish, emotionally resonant spin on classic source material that satisfies in its own right." The series has received a rating of 79 on Metacritic based on fifteen reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Emily Ashby, writing for Common Sense Media, calls the series an "exceptional" and "spectacular" interpretation, giving it four out of five stars. Tasha Cerny, contributor for the Tracking Board, praises the cinematography as lush and colourful, the characters vibrant, and the plot "surprisingly thrilling for a story about a young girl living in a small secluded community in the late nineteenth century. I laughed, I cried, and I didn't expect either from a show about a little girl." Gwen Inhat of The A.V. Club calls the series "at once darker and sweeter than the original" novel, praising the core cast, reserving the highest for the series lead:

"Amybeth McNulty defies her youth with a performance that's less a portrayal of Anne than an absolute possession. It can't be easy to make Anne's fanciful language sing the way she does, and McNulty captures the endearing awkwardness that enables Anne to win over everyone she comes in contact with."

Writing of the 90-minute premiere episode for the Toronto Star, Johanna Schneller was appreciative of Walley-Beckett's departures from the novel, bringing its subtext to the fore: "Reading between the novel's lines and adding verisimilitude, she gives us quick but potent glimpses of the miseries many orphans faced in 1890s imperialist culture." Hanh Nguyen, reviewing the series for IndieWire, concurs with this assessment, saying:

"Rather than ruining the series, they give the context for why Anne would be filled with gratitude for the beauties of nature, basic human decency and having a family to call her own. Montgomery had based much of Anne's need for escape into imagination on her own lonely childhood, and her stories have always had an underlying poignancy that made them all the sweeter."

Jen Chaney, writing for Vulture.com, agrees, saying: "What distinguishes it from other previous Anne iterations is its willingness to harden some of the story's softness, just enough, to create an element of realism that period pieces, Gables-related or not, can be inclined to avoid." Neil Genzlinger writing for The New York Times, commenting on reports of darkness and grittiness, also praises the production: "Ms. McNulty's Anne is still wonderfully ebullient and eminently likable; she's just not the one-dimensional figure of other adaptations". Annie Hirschlag, writing for Mic, suggests that a genuinely contemporary Anne is bound to reflect the current television landscape and wider culture of its times (the 2010s): "Since today's entertainment is peppered with antiheroes — characters who are far from perfect, even occasionally villainous — it makes sense that Anne's familiar idealism is fringed with darkness and agony."

Some reviewers were more ambivalent, mainly about Walley-Beckett's changes to the story. Canadian novelist Saleema Nawaz, who reviewed the 90-minute first episode for Toronto Life, said she enjoyed it more than she expected, particularly the set designs and costumes, as well as the performances by McNulty and Thomson, and she approved of the choice of theme song as reflective of the continued relevance of the source material. She was less sure about how far the series intended to stray from that source material, and disapproved of the "manufactured drama, such as Matthew's wild horse ride". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Isabella Beidenharn expressed similar feelings, but, "putting the source material aside, it's a fine show on its own", and she conceded that "inventing a dark side might help Anne With an E fit into today's TV landscape". Allison Keene, writing for Collider, agrees that Anne is a good drama on its own terms, but allows it is "only a fair adaptation" of the novel, at its best in the home scenes: "Anne with an E is undeniably the most stylish adaptation we've ever seen of Anne of Green Gables. But its desire to reveal more of Anne's miserable past in order to be more true to what the desperation of an orphan is like feels at odds with Montgomery's story." Writing for Variety, critic Sonia Saraiya is even more ambivalent, describing the series as on the one hand "a brilliant adaptation" which "succeeds admirably", but on the other hand, "the show can't quite sustain the brilliance, veering first into maudlin territory and then into the oddly saccharine as it tests out its tone", contending that "the show gets a bit bogged down in telling the story of Anne's dysfunction", presenting "a slightly soapy view of Anne's trials and tribulations that at times really humanize her and in others, are rather infantilizing".

Sarah Larson, writing for The New Yorker, was not at all impressed with changes made to the story, arguing that they alter Anne's character to the point of non-recognition. While she acknowledges that bringing subtext to the fore is a fine idea, she is not pleased with the execution, saying that the result is part "the Anne we know and love" and part "untrustworthy stranger", calling the alteration and addition of scenes a "betrayal" of Montgomery's novel, comparing the treatment unfavourably to Patricia Rozema's 1999 adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. For Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, a central problem with the show is that it "seems to think that in order for Anne to be a feminist figure, she has to butt up against a straw-man-filled patriarchy," and so it turned many of the male characters into misogynists, most notably the Reverend Allan, who is considered by Anne to be a "kindred spirit" in the book: "Anne with an E seems to think Anne's triumphs are only noteworthy if she's continually told she can't succeed, when in fact her unfettered brilliance needs no such clumsy opposition. It also seems to think that Anne needs a radical feminist makeover when, in fact, the story of her success was feminist in its own right." This is part of a more general problem Robinson notes, that conflicts are exaggerated and overdone: "this series thrives on non-stop tragedy."

Season 2

Reviews for the second season were mixed. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently sits at 43% with an average rating of 8/10, based on seven reviews. Hanh Nguyen writes that despite "periods of melancholy and turmoil, this season feels more energetic and subsequently lighter because of the faster pace. It also is more comfortable in its skin and handles humor in its everyday situations deftly while also poking fun at itself." Allison Keene, despite her misgivings about the first season's divergence from the original novel, says it grew on her; she approves of the second season's "major shift in tone" and how, in moving away from the books and expanding the world, "it also moves towards excellence." Conversely, Heather Hogan, who "hated" the first season for similar reasons in her review of the first season, and despite loving the now open "gayness" of the second season, nevertheless concludes her review thus: "Anne With an E continues to use characters shoehorned in from 2018 to explain race and gender and sexuality to people on Prince Edward Island in 1908 as a way of explaining those things to people watching television on the internet in 2018. It's clunky and weird and sometimes embarrassing. The dialogue sometimes feels like it was written in an alien language and run through Google Translator. The drama is so overwrought it’s ridiculous. The characters remain unrecognizable."

Meghan O'Keefe, who was "charmed" by the first season, is "baffled" by the second season's choices of new storylines: "I'm not such a purist that I need TV adaptations to hit every beat of a novel, but I do think that television made for families should understand what their own core philosophy is. While Walley-Beckett's instincts are good, I think this show is too enamored with its trappings of darkness to realize that Anne of Green Gables has endured this long because people love the small specificity of the characters' lives. Warping these details for showier TV kind of dilutes the story." Author Amy Glynn says "it's agonizing because it is visually lovely and incredibly well-acted sanctimonious twaddle."

Season 3

Despite the series having been unexpectedly cancelled, Alici Rengifo finds that it ends on a fitting note, bringing Anne to a point of "real growth"; the finale is "all about how life does indeed go on." Shannon Campe lamented: "It's hard not to feel the series was ending just as it began to find its voice" even if it muddles some of its "kid friendly" messages on racism and other issues. Rengifo appreciates the final season's "many little twists, journeys and a vast array of characters".

It's a shame this show has to leave, it has a classic style that harkens back to books like "Little Women," while updating the tone for contemporary viewers who could have a lot of fun while taking in a few life lessons along the way. Anne will be missed, hopefully she'll have heirs.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref
2018	Canadian Screen Awards	Best Lead Actress, Drama Series	Amybeth McNulty	Nominated
		Best Drama Series	Anne with an E	Won
		Best Supporting Actress, Drama	Geraldine James	Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor, Drama	R. H. Thompson	Won
		Best Guest Performance, Drama	Deborah Glover	Nominated
		Best Direction, Drama Series	Helen Shaver	Nominated
			Niki Caro	Nominated
		Best Writing, Drama Series	Moira Walley-Beckett	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Breakout TV Show	Anne with an E	Nominated
2019	ACTRA Toronto Awards	Outstanding Performance - Female	Amybeth McNulty	Won
	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding Kids & Family Programming	Anne with an E	Nominated
	Canadian Screen Awards	Best Drama Series		Won
		Best Actress, Drama Series	Amybeth McNulty	Won
		Best Supporting Actress, Drama	Geraldine James	Won
		Best Supporting Actor, Drama	R. H. Thompson	Won
		Best Direction, Drama Series	Helen Shaver	Nominated
		Best Writing, Drama Series	Kathryn Borel	Nominated
		Best Guest Performance, Drama	Dalmar Abuzeid	Nominated

External links

• Anne with an E on CBC
• Anne with an E on Netflix
• Anne with an E at IMDb