‘The Undoing’ Season 2: Can The Series Return For Another Installment?
HBO recently produced another hit original series with its gripping drama The Undoing. Starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, the psychological thriller captured viewers and kept them riveted for six episodes.
At the end of the final installment of the season, fans were left shocked and wishing for more. But if the murderer has already been revealed, is there any way to bring the show back for a second season?
‘The Undoing’ was filled with twists and turns
According to Insider, The Undoing is based on a New York Times bestselling novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz called You Should Have Known. It was adapted for TV by writer David Kelly. He also wrote the screenplay for another popular show on HBO that starred Kidman, Big Little Lies.
The success of that first collaboration turned out to be more than just luck. The Undoing was also a hit. The audience grew each week, and when it reached the final episode it was watched by 3 million viewers. This made it the most-watched episode of an HBO original series since the finale of Big Little Lies.
The compulsively watchable thriller tells the story of Grace and Jonathan, a wealthy couple who live on New York’s tony Upper East Side. The couple has a son named Henry, Grace works as a therapist, Jonathan is a pediatric oncologist, and life seems pretty perfect for them.
But in the first episode, the mother of one of their son’s classmates is brutally murdered. As the investigation into the murder seems to get closer and closer to the couple, people they thought they knew begin to look suspicious.
In the final episode, their world is shattered when the murderer is revealed.
Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman work well together
Kidman not only plays Grace, but she also sang the opening theme for the show, something she had to be talked into doing. She and Grant, who plays Jonathan, have the sort of easy, familiar chemistry you would expect in a happily married couple. That’s not surprising, because they’ve worked together before, playing the villains in Paddington and Paddington 2.
Of course, Kidman has also worked with screenwriter Kelly previously, on Big Little Lies. As People reports, that show managed to be extended longer than the original miniseries it had been intended for. It grew into a second season, and there are even rumors that it may return for a third season.
Could the success of The Undoing lead to a similar situation? The murderer may have been revealed in the shocking final episode, but could the story go on after that?
Could ‘The Undoing’ come back for a second season?
In terms of plot, there could be a second installment. All the lead characters make it out alive and there are several avenues the show can take.
Grant’s character could return to stir up trouble. Perhaps a disgruntled Jonathan, who has decades of knowledge of his wife, frames Grace for murder in revenge from behind prison bars.
Grace and Jonathan’s son could find himself embroiled in a murder case. He’s the son of a presumed-psychopath so law enforcement could target him for another “who dun it” case. Or a prequel could explore Jonathan’s childhood and adolescent years.
Viewers are clearly enthusiastic enough about the show to justify another season. But is that going to be enough? According to Elle, the people who are involved in the project say that the answer is maybe…but probably not.
Kelly has mentioned that the book that the show is drawn from does go on to tell the story of how Grace recovers after the murderer is discovered. He has suggested that exploring this could take the series in a new direction.
“[I] loved the part of the book where Grace was rebuilding herself after her world fell apart,” he said “But for the purposes of this run, it was more about the thriller aspect. Who knows? If we did the extended life of Grace Fraser beyond this season of The Undoing, maybe we’d get into that reconstruction part.”
Unfortunately for fans, although this idea may sound appealing, it doesn’t seem very likely to happen. Susanne Bier, who directed The Undoing said the idea was like believing in Santa Clause, but added, “There’s been no conversations about it at all. There are no plans for it.”
It doesn’t sound as though there is much hope for a second season. But The Underground has shown viewers already that they may think they know what’s going to happen next…but they’re wrong.
