Quick Summary
The Society could return for a second season after a five-year absence.
The show’s creator has revealed that he’s looking for ways to bring it back after it was cancelled by Netflix.
While it is crammed with amazing original programming, Netflix doesn’t always get things right. Although it is known for some true water cooler shows, it’s also got a bit of a reputation for cancelling series still in their prime – sometimes leaving them dangling on a cliffhanger.
That can often make little sense. There are plenty of examples of shows ditched regardless of audience numbers, and they often become subject to fervent online demand.
One of those was The Society, which hit the streaming service in 2019 only to be cancelled after its debut season. The sci-fi tale of high school students left to their own devices after all the adults have seemingly disappeared captured imaginations and even secured a second run. A teaser was posted online, in fact.
But, before it was due to film, the pandemic hit, lockdowns were imposed and the show was eventually shelved.
Fans have been crying out for more ever since, not least because it ended with some pretty major cliffhangers and unanswered plot holes. Many of them still take to social media to encourage the makers and Netflix to return to the show, even five years later.
It’s something not lost on the creator of The Society, Christopher Keyser, who has also tantalisingly suggested it could come back.
“This wasn’t a normal cancellation. This wasn’t about not having the audience or we didn’t believe in it anymore. There was a global crisis that changed all of our lives in the one year we were able to make it,” he told Variety in May (via Joe).
“It really feels like this thing that we loved and were ready for was taken away more than anything I’ve ever done. That’s true for the writers and Marc Webb, with whom I made the show. There’s a sense that it stopped in mid-animation, but we knew a lot of what was going to happen on the other side.”
Keyser and Webb almost carried on the story in a graphic novel, but after the publisher went into administration, that failed to appear too. That leaves it once again open to hit a streaming service.
“I have consistent conversations with a bunch of the writers and Marc Webb about how we might bring this back in some way,” he added.
“I just don’t know whether the world is going to work in a way that aligns for us, but we’ll keep trying for a while because it’s gotten under my skin as well.”
Of course, it might not be Netflix that picks up the baton once more – another streaming service might have a crack. Either way, we’ll be awaiting more news on The Society season 2 with bated breath.
