The Fate of the Winx Saga: Why the Netflix Series Isn’t Made for Your Kids

Please note that this article contains spoilers for the first two seasons of Destiny: Winx Saga.

It is not easy for parents to know what we can put in front of our children. Even less with streaming platforms like Netflix or Disney+, which offer tons of content. The worst ? Some programs appear to be suitable… when they are not at all! This is especially true of Destiny: The Winx saga, the second season of which was recently released online by Netflix.

If you grew up in the 2000s or have a little brother/sister, you must be familiar with Winx Club, the multi-season animated series centered around Bloom and her friends. Launched in 2004, it was aimed at an audience of 6 to 14 year olds.

After seven seasons, its creator, Iginio Straffi, wants to rejuvenate his audience and reach children between 2 and 5 years old. At the same time, he is developing a live-action adaptation aimed at an older audience that grew up in the 2000s with the Alphea fairies. his nickname Destiny: The Winx Saga.

The series follows the adventurous journey of five fairies who attend Alfea, a fairy boarding house located in another world. It is there that they must learn to master their magical powers, find love, overcome rivalries and face monsters that threaten to destroy them.

A synopsis that sounds harmless on paper, but kids aren’t the target audience at all. We explain why.

• Not recommended for people under 16 on the platform, Destiny is not the colorful and fun series you might imagine. Forget the colorful appearance of the fairies in the cartoon, this iteration is much darker and more violent (all things considered) than the source material. In the first episodes, the heroine threatens her parents by setting the house on fire. In the second season, he kills the principal of his school in a rage.

• Destiny: The Winx Saga is a teenage series set in the era of Time. Although it features fairies and magic as one of its main themes, it is mainly about 16-year-old young women. His character Bloom has a romantic relationship with Sky, and sex scenes are not uncommon in the series – some viewers think they are overrepresented. Destiny also features a group consisting of Beatrix (a retelling of the Trixie sisters), Riven, and a new character named Dane.

• While Season 1 focused on learning magic, Season 2 completely forgets about that aspect, losing its family-friendly side. It’s about bloodthirsty wizards and horrible creatures that come to take away the power of fairies like leeches.

• Although it’s good that we can only applaud, Destiny: The Winx Saga is also LGBTQ+ friendly. It departs from the source material by introducing several queer characters. It even makes Riven a bisexual character, and Terra comes out in the second season. A topic that parents don’t really discuss with their children.