Netflix’s The Society has been canceled after just one season, and the show’s creator is now revealing what had been planned for season 2. Although the newest season of The Society was originally due to begin filming in March, the COVID-19 pandemic meant that all production was shut down. Although the cast and crew believed this to only be a temporary delay, Netflix released a statement confirming the show’s cancellation this past Thursday.
News of The Society’s cancellation is a shock for many, as the show quickly became a breakout hit after debuting in May of 2019. The series follows a group of high-school students from the town of West Ham, who return from a trip to a replica of their town with no adults or authority figures. After the initial shock, the teens find that there’s no way to leave the town nor contact the outside world. As a result, the students establish their own government and laws in the rechristened town of “New Ham.”
Variety reports that while Christopher Keyser, The Society’s creator, is upset about the series’ sudden cancellation, he also confirmed several details that were slated for season 2. More specifically, Keyser mentions that season 2’s themes would have focused on “the way in which we treat each other, and the way we create caste systems and an underclass.” Also, he shared that such conflict and thematic exploration would have been rooted, at least in part, in the creation of an outpost in New Ham.
Keyser highlights the larger questions of The Society would have been addressed throughout season 2 as well. Perhaps the biggest mystery in The Society is how West Ham became New Ham; as such, Keyser explains that there was much ongoing discussion about “what the cause of that was [and] how [the students] might return home.” That being said, it’s unknown if Keyser intended to compact the answers to all these big questions into season 2 alone or if he’d planned on spreading the answers to these mysteries throughout other seasons.
While Keyser himself admits that The Society didn’t have the ratings power of a Netflix show like Stranger Things, he says he expected a series run of “longer than one season.” Regardless, this cancellation is undoubtedly disappointing news for fans, many of whom hoped season 2 would resolve loose ends from season 1. Although The Society’s cancellation seems to have blindsided all involved, here’s to hoping Keyser releases more behind-the-scenes details about the season that could’ve been.
