Over the past couple of years, the Sanditon Sisterhood fan community has shown that nothing is impossible. With persistent campaigning, even your favourite series can be continued.
After the experience, the bull was like being hit on the head with a tree.
– Jane Austen’s stories have a happy ending, but the first season ends with the heroine travelling home in a horse-drawn carriage, crying. It was very emotional: this can’t happen,” says Härme.
We had to talk about it with others. Härme went to Facebook and found a fan group. There was a consensus that the series could not end here.
Fans gave the US release a boost on social media
A group of fans decided to take to Twitter and start asking the creators of the series after the second season. They were dismayed when, a couple of months after the premiere, the British channel ITV announced that there would be no more seasons. had gathered fewer viewers than expected, and the critics had not liked what they saw either.
The matter could not be left there. Härme and partners started a determined fight for the continuation of the series on social media. The beginning was difficult, because there was not enough mass. There was no troll army, but a costume drama fan group.
– First we tried to see if we could get the hashtag to trend. It was such a discovery trip, how algorithms work and how to get visibility for publications.
It quickly became clear that it was worth downloading the bangers for January 2020, when the series premiered in the United States. According to Härmei, new audiences were found in the United States. One of the reasons, he suspects, is that he is the first and only character created by Jane Austen who is not white in skin color. Even the critics on the other side of the Atlantic liked what they saw.
– We decided to give the publication of the Yankees a little boost. From there, people started pouring into Twitter and Facebook, and we were welcomed with open arms.
Successful crowdfunding campaign: £1,000 raised in an hour
Although doing well in the US, the series had already been discontinued. With the new territorial conquest, the fan group gathered an even wider front. At the same time, a core group of seven, Sanditon Sisterhood, was born, which coordinated the activities and maintained the weekly calendar. Among other things, that calendar was written by Hanna-Kaisa Härmee.
– It helped others stay on top of what we are doing on any given day.
The corona pandemic and the subsequent isolation also played a role. A natural way to spend time together was to organize a joint viewing session every Sunday. Fans watched episodes of the first season at the same time and created an uproar on Twitter. Even the actors and other staff of the series were recruited for the sessions.
– It was quite hilarious that the necessary thousand pounds were filled in an hour. The fans wanted to get something done.
“He could have at least said thank you to us fans”
So something was happening!
On the sixth of May in 2021, we heard eagerly awaited news. Two more seasons of Sanditon were being made.
– There was immense joy from that, Härme recalls.
Härmet was saddened by the fact that James left behind an over-the-top statement about the reasons for his departure.
– Above all, I was disgusted by his self-centered attitude. He could have even said thank you to us fans.
Some fans never accepted that James was gone after the first season. Härme has blocked the troublemakers from view, but he bets that there will still be grumbling about it on Twitter. Harme is the change with you.
– After digesting the matter a bit, I started to fully enjoy the fact that when Sidney has to leave the picture, the events of the second and third seasons come as a complete surprise.
A happy ending, as in Austen’s stories
The action-packed story of the Sanditon series is proof that persistence is rewarded. Fans rubbed their eyes when the already shelved contemporary drama was revived by the BritBox service, whose co-owner ITV had initially let them down. The co-production partner on both occasions is Masterpiece PBS from the United States.
For Härmee, Austen’s novels were originally an escape. In his opinion, the best thing about the stories is their multi-layeredness: they are much more than epics and love stories. There is something new in the stories every time you read or watch them.
So he plans to watch the second season of Sanditon as soon as it is released on Yle Areena – although he has of course already seen it on the paid British service. Maybe then it’s time again for the Sanditon Sisters’ Zoom meeting and a glass of sparkling wine, like when the news about the continuation of the series was announced.
– We had been writing to each other every day, but then we decided to chat on Zoom. Since then, we have met by video call a few times.
In the tweet below, Hanna-Kaisa Härme is with her child at the bottom of the picture.
The best part is that the campaign really influenced the decision to continue the series. The phenomenon that arose around the series thus got a faithfully happy ending for Austen.
– It has been said from all sides that always when negotiating the continuation, you could rely on the fact that the fans think it’s a mecca – that there is clearly a demand for it. Yes, we are incredibly proud of that.