Twelve Forever might be the most underrated cartoon Netflix ever quietly let slip away. I went in expecting a goofy kids show and got something stranger and sadder than I bargained for, a story about a girl so scared of growing up that she builds an entire world to hide inside.
It is funny, it is weird, and it has way more going on under the hood than the bright colors let on.
If you only know it as that show with the Butt Witch, stick around. T
here is a real story here, including a canon queer main character, a creator scandal, and a cancellation that nobody ever fully explained.
What Is Twelve Forever About?
At its heart, the show is about Reggie, a 12-year-old girl who flat out does not want to grow up. Her imagination is so powerful that it cracks open a doorway to a fantasy world called Endless Island, a place where she gets to stay a kid forever. That is where the title comes from, and it is also the emotional engine of the entire series.
On the island, Reggie becomes a superhero and tackles surreal, larger-than-life problems. Back on Earth, she faces the normal terror of middle school, shifting friendships, and a life that refuses to stay still. The clever part is how the two worlds mirror each other. Every monster on Endless Island is really just a fear from Reggie’s real life wearing a costume.
For context, the story is set in a small Midwest town in the early 2000s, which gives it a warm, slightly nostalgic, lived-in feel. The A.V. Club even compared it to Gravity Falls, and that is a fair call.
Inside Endless Island
Endless Island is Reggie’s Neverland, and the animators clearly had a blast with it. It is a loud, candy-colored dreamscape stuffed with strange creatures, each one pulled straight from a 12-year-old’s brain. Think flame-throwing kids, talking blobs, and monsters that make no sense until you clock which real-world worry they stand in for.
Here is a fun piece of trivia. In the original pilot, this world was not called Endless Island at all. It was named Party Island, and it only got renamed for the full series. The music from that pilot even carried over into the very first episode.
Growing Up Is the Real Villain
The thing that makes the series land for me is that it never treats growing up as simple. Reggie’s escapism is both her superpower and her problem. Endless Island keeps her safe, but it also keeps her stuck. As the season rolls on, the cracks start to show, and her refusal to change stops being cute and starts costing her real friendships.
I respect a kids show willing to say the quiet part out loud: growing up is not optional, and hiding from it has a price. Even so, the show pairs that heavy idea with real jokes and a lot of heart, so it never tips into a lecture.
The Characters of Twelve Forever
The cast is small but memorable, and the voice work is a big reason the show clicks. Most of the kids are played by adults, which is standard for animation, and a few actors voice a whole pile of side characters each. So here are the ones who matter most.
Reggie
Reggie is the beating heart of the whole thing. She is enthusiastic, rebellious, loyal, and a bit of a walking disaster, which is exactly why she works. Watching her flip between Earth and Endless Island like a light switch, you can feel how badly she does not want to let go of being a kid.
Kelsy Abbott voices her, and also pulls double duty as a writer on the show. Small bit of trivia: Reggie’s full name is Reggie Abbott, so the actress and the character share a surname.
Todd and Esther
Todd and Esther are Reggie’s best friends and her anchors back in the real world. Todd, voiced by Antony Del Rio, is the loyal, game-for-anything one who rolls with Reggie’s chaos but still calls her out when she needs it. Esther, voiced by Jaylen Barron, is the more grounded voice of reason. She is the one quietly okay with growing up, which puts her in gentle conflict with Reggie’s entire mission.
The Butt Witch
The Butt Witch is the show’s villain, and she is also its best joke and its sharpest metaphor. She is not really evil so much as the living embodiment of the fear of becoming an adult. Instead, she feeds on the kids’ negative emotions and wants to tear Endless Island apart.
She is voiced by Matt Berry, who you might know from What We Do in the Shadows. Having a deep male voice come out of the female villain is a deliberate choice, often read as a nod to the way voices change during puberty, which is the exact thing Reggie is terrified of.
Gwen and Judy
Gwen and Judy are Reggie’s mom and older brother, and they represent the adulthood she keeps dodging. They are not villains. Instead, they carry their responsibilities with grace while wearing the scars that come with growing up. Their job is to gently remind Reggie, and us, that maturity is not the monster it feels like.
Is Reggie Gay? Twelve Forever and LGBTQ Representation
This is one of the questions people search the most, so let me answer it plainly. Yes, Reggie is canonically queer. Executive producer Shadi Petosky described her as a queer character coming to terms with her sexuality, and pointed to her as a canon queer pre-teen lead. Reggie develops a crush on Conelly, a 13-year-old schoolmate she clicks with, which plays out in the two-part episode Locked Out Forever.
She is not the only one, either. Endless Island includes a couple named Mack and Beefhouse, and the character Galaxander is shown to have had a boyfriend. LGBTQ representation in cartoons has come a long way, and this show was part of that wave.
For that reason, GLAAD recognized the series as one of 2019’s notable shows for queer representation. Writing for the Windy City Times, Dana Rudolph praised it alongside heavy hitters like Steven Universe, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and The Dragon Prince. Some fans even call it one of the first kid-friendly Netflix shows with an openly queer lead. You can see why it was praised for its representation of queer characters.
What Makes Twelve Forever So Good
For a show aimed at kids, it swings at some big, heavy themes and mostly connects. It balances real emotional weight with pure silliness, the same tonal tightrope that Steven Universe and Adventure Time walked before it. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction summed it up nicely, describing a series full of pre-teen angst, humor, and twelve-year-olds wielding flame-throwers.
Visually, it deserves a shout too. The character designs are distinct and expressive, from Reggie’s scrappy energy to the Butt Witch’s grungy look, and Endless Island lets the artists go fully off the leash with color and shape. Common Sense Media called it a wonderfully weird show with heart, and that is about the best two-word summary you could give it. It sits around a 6.9 on IMDb, which feels low to me for what it pulled off.
Behind the Scenes: Julia Vickerman and the Making of Twelve Forever
The series was created by Julia Vickerman and produced by Puny Entertainment, with animation by Saerom Animation. It started its life at Cartoon Network, where Vickerman made a pilot back in 2015. That pilot built up a fanbase, a petition pushed for more, and Netflix scooped it up in 2017.
On screen, the style leans into bright palettes and fluid, flexible animation, which is what lets Endless Island feel so alive. If you have ever seen Clarence or Steven Universe, you will recognize the DNA right away. That is no accident, since several people who worked on those shows worked here too.
Why Was Twelve Forever Cancelled?
Here is the question almost everyone ends up Googling. The frustrating answer is that Netflix never gave a clear public reason, which is why the theories pile up. Still, a few things clearly worked against it.
First, the show got almost no promotion. It dropped on Netflix in July 2019 with barely any marketing, the kind of silent release that usually spells trouble. Second, the animation studio, Puny Entertainment, had already shut down before the season even premiered, so the core team was gone before the show arrived.
Then there is the part people search as the twelve forever creator scandal. During production in 2019, creator Julia Vickerman was removed from the show. The reason was not made public at first. According to Wikipedia and later reporting, it was tied to harassment allegations brought by several of her employees. Executive producer Shadi Petosky, who had championed the show’s queer themes, confirmed the cancellation that September. Stack all of that up, and a renewal never had much of a chance.
Will There Be a Twelve Forever Season 2?
I wish I had better news. There is no Twelve Forever season 2, and there almost certainly never will be. The show was quietly cancelled, the studio is gone, and the production fell apart, so the odds of a revival are slim.
What stings is that the season finale ends on the line And the Adventure Continues, leaving Reggie’s story wide open. Petosky has said the abrupt ending meant they never got to fully explore Reggie’s relationship with Conelly, which is exactly the kind of arc a second season would have paid off.
So if you want to watch what we did get, the single season premiered on Netflix, which is the first place to look, though streaming availability does shift over time. It is rated TV-Y7, so it is fine for older kids, with the usual cartoon mischief and a few heavier emotional beats mixed in.
For me, this is a classic case of a show with a clear point of view that got cut off way too early. It is weird, warm, a little melancholy, and absolutely worth your time. If you have ever wished you could stay twelve forever yourself, you will get it instantly.
