One Of The Best Shows Of The 2010s, The Cast Of GLOW Are Back Together Again!

One Of The Best Shows Of The 2010s, The Cast Of GLOW Are Back Together Again! Starring Betty Gilpin

 "GLOW was not supposed to end with season three. The female wrestling dramedy, after ending on a major cliff-hanger involving the starring duo, had been moving along with the fourth and final season and had filmed two episodes before production shut down at the height of the novel coronavirus outbreak. But earlier this week, the creators and cast would find out that Netflix would not be moving forward with the final season after all. 

Citing production restrictions due to COVID-19 safety protocols, the streaming giant announced that they could not find a way to move forward with the physically intimate wrestling series and its large ensemble. On Saturday, the entire 17-person cast of GLOW gathered virtually for a livestream reunion, where they got the opportunity to react to the news together. 

The event, dubbed "AfterGlow — The Final Bell" and moderated by Glamour's Jessica Radloff, had actually been organized before the cancellation news and in support of voter registration and voting plans, an effort created in partnership with HeadCount and #GoodToVote ahead of the 2020 presidential election. "Our show is, among many other things, about people who sometimes feel powerless do powerful things. 

And right now I think the most powerful thing you can do is vote," star Betty Gilpin said to open the hour-and-a-half livestream (watch below). Leading lady Alison Brie added, "If you loved anything about this show and the way the women took control of their own destiny, you can do that too by voting." The two stars and ringleaders were joined by Marc Maron, Kate Nash, Britney Young, Rebekka Johnson, Shakira Barrera, Sunita Mani, Gayle Rankin, Marianna Palka, Ellen Wong, Britt Baron, Sydelle Noel, Kimmy Gatewood, Jackie Tohn, Kia Stevens and Chris Lowell. 

 In addition to pushing a collective message to vote in the upcoming election, the cast emphatically and unanimously agreed to the idea of reuniting once more for a movie version of their gone-too-soon show and asked viewers to also make their voices heard by joining the #SaveGLOW petition, or by "going old school" and mailing in letters to Netflix. 

GLOW is among a growing number of scripted series to be "un-renewed" as the pandemic continues to send shock-waves throughout the entertainment industry. "It would be a very exciting thing and it would seem like Netflix could do it if they wanted to do it," said Maron, who shared his idea for a two-hour wrap-up movie earlier this week on social media and tagged the show's official Netflix account. 

"It would probably solve the problem, it would be easier for them to do. Who the fuck knows what they're going to do, but I think it's a great idea and I hope people rally around it enough to raise the interest of the executives over there."

During the chat, the close-knit group often grew emotional while looking back on pivotal moments in the series, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and discussing how much the female-run and inclusive show, co-created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, changed their lives both professionally and personally. 

 Gilpin further explained, "We scheduled this Zoom when we thought we still had a season four, so it feels like we invited you to our wedding and then the groom had sex with a cross-eyed cocktail waitress and now we’re just all drunk at the venue together and we’re like 'enjoy the quiches because it’s over! But if this wedding is now a funeral, let’s make it one of those fun great ones."

Brie, who played star wrestler Ruth, aka Zoya the Destroyer, summed up, "Our show above all was really fun and funny. And I think it's cool that we were able to handle a lot of really heavy topics and say things about them, and then continue to have fun and life goes on. And these characters are full and not defined by these life moments." 

 Indeed, the '80s-set GLOW tackled storylines around sexuality, homophobia, sexual harassment, workplace harassment, abortion, motherhood, female friendship, and, above all, women and their complicated relationships with their bodies. And one of those storylines led into Gilpin sharing her own fantasy for how she had wished the show — which centered around the fractured friendship between her character, Debbie, aka Liberty Bell in the ring, and Brie's Ruth — could end. 

 "I love that she never found out. I think that puts him in their story more," she explained of Debbie never finding out that Ruth had an abortion after her affair with Debbie's husband. "Personally, thinking about the way that our show ended, though we didn’t intend for it to be the last episode, for me, since season one, I fantasized about Debbie running towards Ruth in an airport, and that’s when they fall together sobbing and when they’d make up." Of the season three finale, which now doubles as the series finale, she says, "We got that scene, but it wasn’t their make up scene. 

To me, I think every character on the show, though they're so different, what they have in common is that they feel these Greek-level feelings and they're given IKEA boxes to put them in, like we all are. You feel, 'I want to do something magnificent with my life.' And the life you're presented is so small and strange and sad, and embarrassing. 

And I think in the wrestling ring, you can touch that version and think, 'Oh that's the superhero version of myself.' And I think all the characters try to seek that out in their own lives — "how can I feel as strong as I am in the ring in my own life?" And it doesn't always look the way you think it's going to. She continued, "For Debbie, she thought it was going to be being a mom and then she thought, 'It's going to be me making a career and being a CEO. 

I'm going to tell Ruth that I found this way for us to do this together. I'm going to feel that Liberty Bell feeling, but in a board room.' And to me, the moment that she sees Ruth get on the plane, she's like, 'Oh the most magnificent thing I did with my life was loving her. And I didn't know that until it was over.' And that's how I, me Betty, feel about this show. Not until it's over am I looking back and thinking, 'Oh, that was it.' What an honor to have touched those heights." Watch the reunion below." -hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/glow-reunion-cast-asks-viewers-to-rally-around-movie-petition-for-netflix