A Show That Defined The '90s Blocked The First Attempt At A Heathers TV Series

"Heathers" gave Winona Ryder an early-career flop, but it wasn't a failure by any means, as the dark teen comedy has since gone on to become a cult classic. The story centers around Ryder's character, Veronica Sawyer, who gets accepted into her high school's most popular — and unpleasant — social clique, the Heathers, and simultaneously starts dating an outcast, J.D. (Christian Slater), who wants to kill all of the popular kids. Despite its gruesome premise, "Heathers" is one of the best movies about high school ever made, and it almost became a '90s TV series — until "Beverly Hills, 90210," a bona fide smash hit, ruined everything.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly for the outlet's 2014 oral history of the film, "Heathers" writer Daniel Waters revealed that he and director Michael Lehmann once pitched a small-screen project set in the same universe to Fox executive Peter Chernin, who was a fan of the idea. Unfortunately, the network only had room for one high school-themed series starring Shannen Doherty (who also appears in the "Heathers" movie), and it went with the other one. As Waters recalled:

"He said, 'This is a great script. It's down to this or 'Beverly Hills High.” Which, of course, ended up being called '90210.' Doherty wins in the end after all."

It's unknown if the planned "Heathers" TV series would have been as biting as the movie, but the mention of Doherty suggests that it would have, at least, been connected to it. However, Fox probably didn't regret the decision to greenlight "Beverly Hills, 90210," as it became appointment viewing for millions of teenagers and is now regarded as a classic in its own right. "Heathers," meanwhile, also got a show of its own, and ... yeah.

Let's just say that the "Heathers" TV series doesn't have the same upstanding reputation as the film that spawned it. The modern-day retelling of the beloved '80s movie reimagines the Heathers as a group of LGBTQ+ social justice activists who uphold the status quo and weaponize their causes, which makes them seem like the villains. The show aimed to critique contemporary culture war issues, but it wasn't warmly received, with critics arguing it was wrongheaded and misguided.

That said, the creator of the "Heathers" series, Jason Micallef, didn't envision the titular characters as the baddies, noting that Veronica Sawyer (Grace Victoria Cox) and J.D. (James Scully) are the real villains of the piece. (You know, given that they take out their classmates and all that.) Speaking to IndieWire in 2024, Micallef argued that the show's reputation as a reactionary series is unjustified:

"I remember someone from GLAAD called me right when the casting for the pilot had gone out. They really wanted me to think about the issue with having a non-binary person as a Heather, which I thought was great, but then it dawned on me: people think the Heathers are the villains. Like, they're not going to win Miss Congeniality or anything, but they're the victims of JD and, ultimately, Veronica in our version."

The only saving grace of the "Heathers" TV series is that it features Shannen Doherty in a guest starring role ... though it might make some viewers wish they were watching her in the original film instead. "Heathers" was also canceled after one season, as its release coincided with a wave of real-life school shootings, causing Paramount to eventually put out an edited version that didn't exactly set the world on fire.