Is Gentleman Jack renewed? Season 2 premiere date hopes
Earlier this year, the BBC/HBO hybrid series was officially greenlit for a season 2 — a tremendous nod of approval given that it’s still in the finding-an-audience phase stateside. This season is currently averaging close to 400,000 live US viewers — it’s bringing in considerably more in the UK, and that’s without even mentioning all of the DVR/streaming viewers that are out there. With a show like this, live linear viewers really are the tip of a massive iceberg. This two-network model is one of the reasons why Gentlemen Jack is sticking around and in the era of hyper-competition, we expect these sort of co-productions to be even more common. Just earlier today in Canada, there was an announcement of a big partnership between Canadian and Australian broadcasters on content. With higher viewer expectations comes a bigger budget, and co-productions like Gentleman Jack mitigate it.
Rejoice that the show is coming back, but be aware that it’s not coming back any time soon. Creator Sally Wainwright is best known in our hearts and minds for Happy Valley — a show that we’ll be lucky to see again before 2025 at this point. We’re being hyperbolic of course, but it’s been three years since season 2 and there’s no clear sign that season 3 is coming any time soon even though everyone is hungry for more.
Let’s go ahead and get to the statements celebrating Gentleman Jack, given that otherwise we’ll get stuck on a Happy Valley loop and nobody’s here to see that. Here is some of what HBO Drama EVP Francesca Orci had to say at the time the news first came out:
“We’re thrilled that Anne Lister’s story has resonated so powerfully with audiences in the U.S. and abroad, and we’re grateful to Sally Wainwright and the entire Gentleman Jack family for bringing her story to life … Anne’s journey is an important and courageous one and we can’t wait to share this next season with the world.”
Meanwhile, Wainwright added the following:
“It’s so exciting that so many people have had such a positive response to Suranne’s exuberant performance as the brilliant, life-affirming Anne Lister and to Sophie Rundle’s beautiful performance as her courageous partner, Ann Walker … I’m utterly delighted that we’ve been recommissioned, because there are so many more big, bold stories to tell about Anne Lister and Ann Walker.”
All kidding aside, Gentleman Jack season 2 will most likely arrive over the next year or two — yet, given the nature of British TV and their constant “patience is a virtue” mantras, we wouldn’t even try to disclose what the possible premiere date be. That will be confirmed down the line — in other words, don’t expect anything coming your way any time soon. We do wonder though whether HBO will continue to run the episodes ahead of the UK?
To learn more about other renewals/cancellations, check out our full guide over here.
Are you looking forward to Gentleman Jack season 2, and what did you think about season 1 as a whole? Be sure to share now in the comments. (Photo: HBO.)