‘Mare of Easttown’ creator opens up about potential second season
HBO's insanely popular Mare of Easttown was designed to be a limited series, but the show's creator Brad Ingelsby is not closing the book on a second season just yet.
Ingelsby opened up about the show's future and about a potential second season in a new interview with TVLine, reported E! News.
While the first and currently the only season of Mare of Easttown seemed to be a pretty open and shut case, the door has not been entirely closed for another installment. Creator and writer Ingelsby said that a season two is not an impossibility. The problem is, as it usually is, whether or not there's a gripping story to be told.
"If we can crack a story that is as great as season 1 and that would do justice to the characters and carry on the story in a way that was organic and yet surprising, I would love to do it," he told TVLine. "I just don't know what the story is. That's the issue right now," he added.
HBO content chief Casey Bloys echoed similar sentiments when he spoke to Variety earlier this month, confirming that "everybody would be open to it" as soon as Ingelsby had a plan for a second season. And Winslet is most definitely on board.
"I would absolutely love to play Mare again," she previously told TVLine. "I miss her. I really do. It's the strangest thing. I feel like I'm in mourning. It was an absolutely wonderful role. There's something very addictive about Mare, because she's so outrageous and lovable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her."
It wouldn't be totally out of the blue to give Mare (Winslet) another murder to solve, she is a detective, after all, but Mare of Easttown isn't just about Mare solving murders.
The case in the first season was so wrapped up around her personal life and involved one of her very best friends, and it all connected to Mare's grief over her son's suicide, which she was learning to deal with throughout the hit series.
Ingelsby told TVLine that there's the possibility that a season two "lightbulb moment" may never come. "We gave Mare such a personal arc where she had to confront this loss in her life, and we would have to construct another emotional arc that was able to compete with [that]," he explained.
The creator added, "And I'm also acutely aware of the dangers of doing a Season 2 just because you have the [opportunity] to do it. I would only want to do it if we were convinced we had something great."
Before the finale aired, Ingelsby told Esquire that there was never even a conversation about a season two. "We didn't ever talk about returning...it's very much a closed story," he said. "I think you've seen that now, the story ends. I think all the loose ends get tied up. I hope so at least. But I think if we could ever crack a story that was as emotional and surprising, then I think maybe there's a conversation. I don't have that in my head right now, but I mean, listen, I love Mare. If we could ever give her a great season, I would certainly consider it."
This is not a new issue for HBO. Big Little Lies, another limited series, became a smash hit when it premiered in 2017, and while it competed at the Emmys in the Limited Series category, HBO soon got author Liane Moriarty to write a second season.
They even got Meryl Streep to join the already A-list cast of the show, but there are few who would argue that the second season was even close to as good as the first season.
Mare of Easttown follows a detective from small-town Pennsylvania, Mare Sheehan (Winslet), as she investigates the murder of a local girl and watches the town's dark secrets come to light. Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Guy Pearce, Angourie Rice, and Evan Peters also featured in the show. The hit drama's series finale aired on May 30. It is available to stream on HBO Go. (ANI)