In absolutely no surprise whatsoever, fans are already calling for a second season of The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. I don’t blame them, I bloody stayed up ’til 2.30am bingeing it. But look… that’s probably not going to happen, and here’s why.
The Queen’s Gambit is based on the novel of the same name by Walter Tevis. I reckon it’s one of the best, if not the best original series Netflix has churned out this year. IT’S SO GOOD. Like, it’s the type of series that makes you want to read the book just so you can relive it in a different way.
In it, Anya Taylor-Joy (Split, Emma) stars as chess prodigy Elizabeth Harmon, who battles addiction and fame as she rises to become the best chess player in the world.
It’s bloody absorbing, I tell ya what.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDrieqwSdgI
The thing is, The Queen’s Gambit is very clearly a one-and-done limited series. It says so when you bring it up on Netflix, but that hasn’t stopped people from asking about a second season.
https://twitter.com/yanaprimrose/status/1322016300269404160
i need season 2 of the queen’s gambit pic.twitter.com/AsYJRoQVH5
— kay (@hermionelogy) October 25, 2020
“The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix was brilliant. I’m hoping for season 2. ♟
— Shickanara (@blinktubey) November 1, 2020
While a second season would be cool, the cast and crew seem pretty damn chuffed with how they ended things, and who are we to mess with perfection?
What have the cast been saying?
WELL, Taylor-Joy said she would return for a second season.
“I adore the character, and I would certainly come back if I was asked to,” she told Town & Country last month.
But she did make the beaut point that Queen’s Gambit ends on a very satisfying note for Beth.
“I think the rest of her life will surely be an adventure as well,” she said. “But in the quest that she goes on in this to find some form of peace, just some form of being able to be happy with who she is. I think it ends in a nice place.”
Iconique.
Harry Melling, AKA “Harry Beltik” in the series, AKA “Dudley” from Harry Potter, echoed his costar’s words. He wasn’t entirely against a second season, though.
“I don’t know if there can be another one, but stranger things have happened,” he told the magazine.
Dexter being brought back from the dead years after it ended comes to mind.
What about the crew?
Executive producer William Horberg said more of the same thing, really.
“The last scene feels like a beautiful note to end the show on, so I’m not sure if we want to go on and answer that question,” he said in the Town & Country interview.
“Maybe we can just let the audience imagine what comes next.”
The answer is obviously more world domination.
But most importantly, there’s only one book
The Queen’s Gambit is based on Tevis’ standalone 1983 novel, which means there’s no source material for a second season.
In saying that, however, this hasn’t stopped other writers and directors from going forth and doing their own thing. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss infamously did it with Game of Thrones, which is not the best example but you know what I mean.
Another example is Big Little Lies season 2, which was originally a limited series too. When HBO contacted author Liane Moriarty about a potential second season, the author agreed to pen a 50,000 word unpublished novella for the studio to work with. Such is the power of HBO.
But hey, even though the odds are against a second season of The Queen’s Gambit I really wouldn’t be surprised if Netflix somehow made it happen. Like Melling said: stranger things have happened.
The Queen’s Gambit is streaming now on Netflix.
