With its eighth episode about to stir up some business (we know… we just watched it and HOO boy), HBO has given the green light to a second season of its very bleak but very good new series, The Leftovers. There will be more Damon Lindelof in your future, folks!
The deal was announced today by HBO’s president of Programming, Michael Lombardo in a fancy-schmancy press release. “We are thrilled to bring back The Leftovers for a second season … It has been truly exciting to see the overwhelming response to [the show’s] provocative and original storytelling. We look forward to continuing the journey as the show delves deeper into the lives of those who remain.”
Co-created by Lindelof and the series’ source material-writer, novelist Tom Perrotta, the 10-episode first season focused on a small New York town wherein a Rapture (or Rapture-esque, or something else entirely but who knows, because Lindelof) has rid the world of two percent of its population. Within this catastrophic, unknown event, an intimate drama about the days following that fateful departure three years prior unfolds.
To call the show polarizing and challenging to audiences would be an understatement. But at its heart the show ruminates on the way inexplicable events change the way we all interact with the world, and how it shapes and forms communities old and emerging. It’s a show without answers and a lot of eerie bleakness but honestly, would you expect anything less from the man that brought us Lost? I mean, really?
The first season finale is slated for September 7th.
Are you watching The Leftovers? Reading our recaps? Happy to see it renewed? Let us know your thoughts in the comments — unless you’re a Guilty Remnant or something. In which case: go back to smoking your cigarette.
I love this show, I dont know what it is about it but it really holds my attention. As a lost fan (1 of 10) there is something very captivating about the stories being told, the focussed single character episodes really show of Lindelof’s ability as a story teller, echoing the strongest episodes of Lost following John Locke’s story.
I do think, and I say this with reserve that I dont think we will really learn much about the actual event itself. It will be more about the journey of the characters and where it takes them, which is fine for me, but for lost haters I think the pay-off will be the same .