Mare of Easttown spoilers follow.
Kate Winslet's gritty HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown quickly gripped the world when it launched in April 2021, and ever since fans have been begging for more.
Despite it being marketed as a limited series (meaning a 'one and done' season format), that hasn't deterred people from wanting more of the grim Philadelphia suburb.
By the time the show ended on May 30, WarnerMedia proudly announced the finale was the most-watched episode of any HBO or HBO Max series during its first 24 hours. Three million viewers tuned in that Sunday evening (via Deadline) to discover who had murdered Erin and why, with a further four million viewers watching over the weekend on streaming service HBO Max.
It should also be noted that every episode drew in more viewers than the last, which had only been achieved by Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant drama The Undoing prior to that.
Given all of the above, it wouldn't be surprising if season two was given the thumbs up. But as of October 2022, nothing's been announced.
So realistically, what are the chances?
Mare of Easttown season 2: Will there be one?
The short answer is we simply do not know what's going on re bringing Mare back for a new investigation.
Technically, we shouldn't see her again, because as a limited series it was never intended to last more than one season.
However, massive series successes have seen networks change their mind on their original plan before.
For example, Big Little Lies was supposed to be a one-time affair, but its popularity spurred its creators and the network on to produce more.
Conversations about a third season as well have regularly surfaced since, such is the appetite to witness the fallout from season two.
As for Mare of Easttown, Winslet has made no secret about her desire to return to the character.
Speaking to TVLine ahead of the series finale, she said: "I would absolutely love to play Mare again. 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 loveable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her."
In June, HBO boss Casey Bloys also added fuel to the fire and seemed to have an interest in making more Mare of Easttown as well.
"If Brad [Inglesby, writer] felt like he had a story to tell that felt like it would be at the same level, I think everybody would be open to it," he told Variety.
"Right now, he doesn't have that story. Who knows? We'll have to wait to see if they come up with something they're dying to tell."
However, creator Brad Inglesby was slightly more apprehensive and told Hollywood Reporter he wasn't convinced there was more of a story to tell.
"It was written as a limited, and it ends. There's no more mystery to be solved,” he said.
"Kate and I, if we could crack a story that we were really proud of and felt like it was a deserving second chapter in Mare's journey, then maybe. I haven't cracked that yet; I don't know what that is, honestly.
"But if there was a world in which we were convinced this is a continuation of the story that honours the first chapter and does things an audience will appreciate, then maybe. But as of right now, I have no idea what that could be."
Mare of Easttown season 2 plot: What would happen?
There is an argument to be made for leaving Mare where we last saw her, climbing up into the loft where her son Kevin took his own life for the first time since his death.
But then again there's also one for rejoining her when the dust has settled.
The Mare we met at the beginning of the series was not the woman we said goodbye to. Therapy had forced the protagonist to reckon with her untapped trauma. Her initial unwillingness to go there thawed with every conversation and through that, we witnessed a metamorphosis. Mare was transitioning into a person who was learning to live with the unacceptable, rather than continue to rail against it at every turn, hemmed in by her own grief. With that transformation emerged new layers to her character that, along with the whodunnit at the heart of the narrative, kept audiences locked in.
Erin McMenamin's murder and the myriad twists and turns that led to the unmasking of Lori and John Ross's son Ryan as the killer would have been the sole driving force in numerous other dramas. But Mare of Easttown was as much a character study as a murder mystery, with viewers totally invested in the police detective's journey (and her total lack of culinary skills – cheese in a can, anyone?) from the moment we were first introduced.
And there would be zero complaints if the exquisite Jean Smart was given another opportunity to play Mare's Fruit Ninja-loving, cocktail-schlurping, snack-hoarding mother Helen. We'd pay good money for a Jean spin-off, but that's a conversation for another day.
Season two would, of course, throw up a new crime, the tendrils of which would envelop the Easttown community, dragging a cohort of fresh faces and their secrets out into the light.
But choosing to put down the pen and walk away can be the smartest move a creator can make, as we saw with Michaela Coel and I May Destroy You, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge with Fleabag.
There is every chance that further seasons would have reached the heights of their predecessors, but both Coel and Waller-Bridge had exhausted their reserves in regards to those stories and the characters that power them. To dive back in would, for them, have been disingenuous, the decision motivated by calls from the public and networks to serve up a fresh helping rather than their burning desire to tell a particular tale.
The general consensus following Big Little Lies' second season was that it failed to reach the heights of its debut, and while the praise surrounding its first season cannot be taken away from its cast and creators, it lost some of its shine.
But with Inglesby adamant that the conditions must be perfect for him to say yes, we can rest assured that if we do meet Mare again, we'll have a hell of a show on our hands.
Winslet had her own ideas about what could happen if we get a season two and suggested it could address police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement.
"I don’t know if I’m going to be playing Mare again," she told The Guardian. "But if we were to do a second season, then for sure these atrocities which have existed in the police force here and in America will find their way into the stories we tell. One hundred percent.
“You can't pretend these things haven't happened. It's horrible, isn't it? This moment in time. It's horrific.
"You can hear me, I can't quite find the words because we all feel so betrayed and powerless. We have to turn this moment into something meaningful."
Mare of Easttown is available on HBO Max in the US, and Sky and NOW in the UK.
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Freelance writer, Digital Spy
Tilly is Gold-Standard NCTJ accredited journalist with eight years of experience in entertainment journalism.
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Previously working with The Sun Online, Yahoo, Metro.co.uk and Independent IE amongst others, she joined the Digital Spy team from 2021-2023 as Deputy TV Editor (Maternity cover).
With a speciality in TV drama and true crime, Tilly has been praised for her exclusive content with A-list stars ranging from Sir David Attenborough to the lawyers behind Making A Murderer.
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