Occasionally, Netflix releases a show or a movie that takes the entire world by storm. This time, we have Adolescence from the streaming giant, a four-part single-shot filmed crime drama developed by Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne. Despite being billed as a miniseries, fans are wondering whether they will get Season 2 in the future.
Adolescence has earned a rare “fresh” score of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. On IMDb, it stands with an impressive 8.4/10 rating.
Consequently, it is now the most-streamed show on Netflix’s weekly list of Top 10 shows (English), with over 24.3 million views and more than 93 million hours of viewing in its first week of streaming. These are insane numbers, which only goes to show how much people across the globe have loved the series.
Adolescence revolves around the tragic death of Katie Leonard, which leads to the arrest of her 13-year-old classmate, Jamie Miller. Investigations conducted by police, including psychological assessments, revealed that Miller was deeply affected by relentless online bullying, specifically related to the toxic ideologies of the incel subculture, potentially contributing to the violent act.
Plenty of prominent figures from Bollywood have also praised the show for its single-shot filming technique and bold and innovative storyline. Iconic filmmakers such as Sudhir Mishra, Shekhar Kapur, and Anurag Kashyap have openly sung praises for the miniseries. One of the latest admirers is none other than Alia Bhatt, calling the show “perfection” via one of her latest Instagram stories.
This scenario brings us to the question of whether we will get Adolescence Season 2 sometime in the future. Well, get ready to digest this news with a grain of salt, but it seems like Adolescence will not get a second season, as it was filmed and treated like a miniseries right from the very get-go, confirmed by Stephen Graham.
Thorne and Graham deliberately concluded the story by returning to Jamie Miller’s bedroom, mirroring the opening scene, but set months after his arrest. They aimed to emphasise the positive aspects of Jamie’s life, such as his supportive family, to illustrate that even with a stable upbringing, he was susceptible to online radicalization.
This is what Graham said about the possibility of a second season: “We knew that we wanted to end it in that room. We wanted the journey to finish where it began… This is where the person who Jamie became was created.”
An argument could be raised that Netflix has the opportunity to leverage the series’ growing popularity across the globe, given that it has already become a big streaming success within its first week of streaming release. Any other OTT platform would have certainly thought deeply about renewing the show for a second season. But we also know that Netflix deeply cares about its prestige.
As much as Netflix loves viewership, even if the project is of low quality, the streaming giant also loves winning accolades. Think about it…
For the past two years, Netflix has consistently performed exceptionally well in the Limited Series category at the Primetime Emmy Awards, earning four nominations and taking home awards for both Beef and Baby Reindeer. Though they face challenges in the comedy and drama fields, limited series have proven to be a winning formula for them.
Other OTT platforms do not give as much importance to the limited series as Netflix does. So, this gives Netflix an amazing opportunity to bag an Emmy and other important accolades for Adolescence in the limited series category. Let’s see what happens. Stay tuned for more updates.