Teenage Bounty Hunters is an American teen comedy drama television series created by Kathleen Jordan for Netflix which was released on August 14, 2020. Blake McCormick and Jenji Kohan are executive producers, along with Tara Herrmann and Robert Sudduth serving as showrunner. In October 2020, the series was canceled after one season.
After denting their father's pickup truck, evangelical high school students and fraternal twins Sterling and Blair Wesley fall into bounty hunting for grizzled bounty hunter Bowser Jenkins in order to pay for the truck's repair, and without their parents' knowledge.
The series was originally titled as Slutty Teenage Bounty Hunters, created by Kathleen Jordan, and executive produced by Robert Sudduth, Jenji Kohan, Tara Herrmann, and Blake McCormick. Sudduth also served as the showrunner. The pilot is directed by Jesse Peretz. On July 22, 2020, upon series premiere date announcement, the series was retitled as Teenage Bounty Hunters, dropping the word "slutty". The series premiered on August 14, 2020. The official trailer for the series was released on July 30, 2020. On October 5, 2020, Netflix canceled the series after one season.
On June 28, 2019, Maddie Phillips, Anjelica Bette Fellini, Kadeem Hardison, and Virginia Williams had been cast in starring roles. Upon the official trailer announcement, Mackenzie Astin, Method Man, Myles Evans, Spencer House, Devon Hales, Shirley Rumierk were cast in undisclosed capacities.
The series was filmed in Atlanta, Georgia from July to October 2019.
Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and wrote a review saying, "Brisk and funny, warm and wonderfully oddball, Teenage Bounty Hunters is a binge everyoneâ except maybe Old Testament GodâÂÂcan get behind." Reviewing the series for The Hollywood Reporter, Inkoo Kang described the series as "winsome and well-crafted" and said, "Teenage Bounty Hunters is propelled by excellent comic performances by Phillips and Fellini, who don't look all that similar but do share a fizzy chemistry, especially in their crackerjack-timed quips and clairvoyant communications."
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 93% based on 28 reviews, with an average rating of 7.23/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Teenage Bounty Hunters has snappy one-liners and style to spare, and though its peculiar premise at times fizzles, it's held together by Maddie Phillips and Anjelica Bette Fellini's killer chemistry." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 72 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The series has been included on many best of 2020 television show lists by critics' including ones published on The New Yorker, The New York Times, and Vulture.
Vulture included Teenage Bounty Hunters on its list on "The Best Overlooked 2020 TV Series". Kathryn VanArendonk praised the show, writing, "ItâÂÂs snappy and smart, full of sharp twists and emotional revelations but always true to its primary duo, twin sisters Sterling (Maddie Phillips) and Blair (Anjelica Bette Fellini), and their long-suffering bounty-hunter mentor, Bowser (Kadeem Hardison). It has an immediately distinctive voice that supports rather than distracts from the twisty plotting, something mystery shows always aim for and so, so rarely achieve. ItâÂÂs so funny, and so legitimately fantastic."