In the wake of the tragic and untimely death of Hana Kimura, the 22-year-old professional wrestler and Terrace House star, Netflix has halted production of the popular Japanese reality show.
Terrace House follows the lives of six young people living together in a Tokyo Apartment. Unlike American reality TV shows, which often bank on drama between cast members, Terrace House was a more peaceful show. It focused more on interpersonal relationships than large spectacles.
After debuting as a professional wrestler in 2016, Hana Kimura joined the show in its 20th episode. While filming the shows current season, Kimura began to experience intense bullying and harassment from online trolls. After posting a message to Twitter stating that she didn’t “want to be alive anymore,” she was found dead. The cause of death has not been released to the public.
Netflix has already said it was going to suspend new Terrace House episodes, and it’s now gone one step further, halting production entirely. This leaves the future of Terrace House up in the air. It’s possible that production will start back up once fans have had time to grieve Kimura. However it’s also entirely possible the show will never return, as it’s now tainted with her death.
Online harassment is a serious issue, especially in the gaming community. 74 percent of gamers have experienced online harassment in some form. If there’s anything to be taken away from this tragedy, it’s that we should all be a little nicer to each other.
