The Netflix show 13 Reasons Why is about a girl named Hannah Baker who commits suicide. She leaves thirteen cassette tapes behind explaining why she took her own life. In the show, viewers follow Clay Jensen as he listens to the tapes and sees how everything changes after Hannah’s death. 13 Reasons Why has made an impact on many people, spanning from middle school students to adults. Some find the show to be harmless but a big portion of others have found it to be  problematic.

Like Portsmouth High School, lots of schools have sent out warnings to parents about the show. A school in Canada recently banned everything to do with the show. The show does put trigger warnings before episodes that are more graphic than others, and they have Beyond The Reasons (this plays right after episode thirteen and the actors talk about the risk of suicide,) but some still don’t think that’s enough of a warning for viewers. 

The main reason people are blaming the show is due to the producers “romanticizing” suicide. The National Association of School Psychologists has advised teenagers who have ever thought about suicide to stay away from watching the show. Some viewers of the show see the tapes as Hannah’s way of revenge, and that if you kill yourself, people will be punished for what they did. A spokesperson for Australian youth mental-health organization Headspace, Kristen Douglas said that “[13 Reasons Why] is raising a really important issue, it’s doing it in a really harmful way.”

Ever since the show was released on March 31st, Netflix has been receiving plenty of criticism. On May 1st Netflix released an important statement:

“While many of our members find the show to be a valuable driver for starting an important conversation with their families, we have also heard concern from those who feel the series should carry additional advisories. Currently, the episodes that carry graphic content are identified as such and the series overall carries a TV-MA rating. Moving forward, we will add an additional viewer warning card before the first episode as an extra precaution for those about to start the series and have also strengthened the messaging and resource language in the existing cards for episodes that contain graphic subject matter, including 13ReasonsWhy.info — a global resource center that provides information about professional organizations that support help around the serious matters addressed in the show.”

Even with so much controversy surrounding the shows portrayal of suicide and the little amount of advisory warnings before the episodes, there’s going to be a second season. On May 7th, co-producer of the show, Selena Gomez, announced on Instagram that 13 Reasons Why was renewed for a season two. She posted a short video with scenes from the show, captioning it “Their story isn’t over. Season 2 of #13ReasonsWhy is coming.”

Season two is set to be released in 2018 with thirteen episodes.