Following the massive success of Netflix’s Adolescence, which premiered on 13 March, the British limited series is not looking so limited after all, with Brad Pitt‘s production company, Plan B Entertainment, in early talks with the show’s director over a possible second season.
As reported by Deadline, Plan B co-presidents Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner are in discussions with show director Philip Barantini about its “next iteration”, with Gardner keen to “widen the aperture” of the series while “[staying] true to its DNA [to] not be repetitive”, with the hopes to have co-creator Stephen Graham and writer Jack Thorne reteam on the project.
“Phil’s style of doing the episodes in one take is not a gimmick. It’s very much in conversation with the subject matter,” Gardner added while praising the show’s success. “In early conversations with Stephen and Jack, they were talking about how it’s too easy to look away. You can look away from the school, you can look away from the police station, you can look away from the counseling, you can look away from the family. In that kind of prismatic way of viewing, you can duck the issue. So our theory was, what would happen if you couldn’t look away? And will that make the subject [embedded] in you in a different way? That was a thrilling thing.”
Adolescence’s success and praise are certainly warranted, with the show amassing over 114 million views less than a month after its release, propelling it up to fourth place on Netflix’s Most Popular English TV list. The show told the story of 13-year-old boy Jamie Miller, played by actor Owen Cooper in his breakout role, who is arrested for the murder of his classmate. Each episode is styled in a single continuous take, which further adds to its tension and intensity.
Plan B Entertainment, a studio founded by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Kristin Hahn and Jennifer Aniston in 2001, first set its sights on Adolescence after watching Boiling Point, a one-take feature by Barantini, centred around a chef who faces a personal and professional meltdown. According to Kleiner, the studio wanted to experiment with the format in the form of a TV series, which was also backed by Pitt, who wished to reunite with Graham following Guy Ritchie’s 2000 film Snatch.
As to how Plan B intends to extend the show’s canon, Gardner revealed that “complicity” would be the main theme with a potential sequel, with the studio embracing the challenges and ambition needed to handle the one-take format. With the studio no stranger to tackling heavy issues with films in its repertoire like 2022’s She Said and 2024’s Nickel Boys, the future of the series seems to be in good hands.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
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