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Netflix Should Give The Society Season 2 Another Chance
Although the series was canceled in 2020, Netflix should give The Society season 2 another chance to properly wrap up the popular series whose mysteries were never explained. Debuting on Netflix in 2020, The Society was a modern Lord of the Flies-esque tale following a group of high school juniors and seniors who come back early from a canceled trip to find the entire town vacated. As the teens adjust to life on their own with no cell service, internet, or exit from West Ham’s boundaries, new rules for living are created while power struggles pin the students against one another.
In a series of shows who were preemptively canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic back in summer 2020, one of the most disappointing losses was The Society. After Netflix had already renewed the series for a second season back in 2019, it was announced in August 2020, five months after filming was supposed to begin, that The Society was canceled. Deadline reported that Netflix’s decision to can the show altogether was because the pandemic caused unforeseen financial losses and scheduling conflicts. While The Society had relatively high viewership rates, it wasn’t at the same level as Netflix shows like Stranger Things, so it was one of the first to go.
Netflix is now becoming a show savior for slow-burn fan-favorite shows that were canceled on other platforms like Manifest, which makes Netflix hypocritical for not saving its own shows that were popular before cancelation. When it was announced that Netflix would be canceling The Society, viewers and cast members alike were extremely disappointed. The news prompted a Change.org petition to renew the show, which currently has nearly 130,000 signatures - clearly showing The Society has a solid fanbase invested in season 2 coming to fruition. Cast members were also angry about the decision as they were extremely excited to return to New Ham, with star Kathryn Newton even posting her appreciation for the petition - and that she signed it herself - on Twitter.
It’s not impossible for the Netflix series to pick up where it left off on the teenagers after two years of no filming. Taking precedent from Netflix’s own Stranger Things, where there will be a three-year gap between the filming of seasons 3 and 4, the actors’ aging clearly isn't a reason for why The Society couldn't eventually move forward. Additionally, nearly all the actors were significantly older than their 16- or 18-year-old characters, meaning their aging wouldn’t be as visible between the seasons’ gap. The only issue is that The Society had a large ensemble cast, which would make scheduling more difficult. Since the show has such a dedicated fanbase, audiences would wait as long as necessary if it meant finally getting a resolution to the enthralling TV show.
While it doesn’t seem likely that it’ll happen any time soon, there’s still hope for Netflix to save The Society for season 2. For one, the creators never revealed the most important question from season 1 that was never answered: why are the teens trapped in West Ham? If the creators thought there was no chance of The Society coming back to the screen, they likely would have alleviated fans’ annoyances by revealing its mysteries. Show creator Christopher Keyser told TV Line the outline of The Society season 2 plot, such as the mysterious open field and the establishment of “the outpost,” which would pose a conflict with the rest of New Ham. With how open-ended season 1 left off and Netflix clearly believing in the show to originally renew it, The Society deserves another chance for a season 2.
