The Purge season 2 renewal confirmed! Premiere date speculation
Today, the network announced that they are officially picking up the show (based on the horror franchise) for a second season of scares. Take a look at the statement below from Chris McCumber, president of Entertainment Networks for NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment (side note: Try introducing yourself with that job title at a party):
“USA Network is so proud to be the television home for the iconic franchise The Purge.’ … The partnership and creative trust of [executive producer] Jason Blum and everyone at Blumhouse Television and Universal Pictures ensured The Purge‘s successful transition from film to TV — and along with Universal Cable Productions, we look forward to digging even deeper into the mythology in season two.”
Meanwhile, Jason Blum went ahead and added the following:
“James DeMonaco has done it again: The propulsive and compelling story he created for season one of The Purge truly resonated with audiences in a significant way … We are thrilled to embark on season two and can’t wait to bring more of James [DeMonaco’s] vision to USA and fans of The Purge.”
There’s no reason to really be all that surprised with any of this news — The Purge season 1 averages over a 0.4 rating in the 18-49 demographic, making it one of USA’s top scripted hits at the moment. Given that it has anthology potential, there’s no reason to even think about killing it in some sort of murderous, Purge-like way. There are methods in which you could reinvent this show year after year (much like they have with the movies) and horror fans would glady watch. If there’s one other thing that we’ve learned about Blum and Blumhouse, it’s that they have a knack for making oodles of money without actually having to spend a lot of it. This is a killer (pun intended) collaboration for everyone involved.
So when will The Purge season 2 premiere?
Did you really think that you were getting a premiere date THIS soon? Well, it ain’t happening. USA will more than likely give you more information on the future of the series next year, and we’d anticipate (given the timing of the renewal) that it could be ready for the fall pending some surprise interruption.
All of this news is good, but allow us to point out the above photo for a moment. It’s a reminder that the network originally promoted this as a 10-episode “television event.” Basically, this is them hyping up something as a limited series before making it an actual series (they already did this with The Sinner), and it’s worthy of a little bit of an eye-roll. We do wonder how many viewers first got on board these shows thinking that they were only going to be a one season commitment for them before the switcheroo took place. Luckily, we do think that these seasons are open-and-shut enough for it not to matter all that much if you haven’t seen previous seasons.
When do you want The Purge season 2 to premiere? Sound off now in the comments, and stay tuned for more. (Photo: USA.)