The excellent Blindspotting has been renewed for a second season on Starz
The series, spun-off from the 2018 film, stars Jasmine Cephas Jones as an Oakland mom raising her son while his father is in jail
Excellent news out in the world of cable TV this evening, as Starz announced that it’s just given a second season to Blindspotting. The series—spun off of the 2018 film—focuses on Jasmine Cephas Jones as Ashley, a woman who finds herself living with mother-in-law (Helen Hunt) after her long-term partner (Rafael Casal, who also serves as a showrunner and executive producer on the series) is sent to prison for five years.
We praised Blindspotting heavily when it debuted on the network back in June, noting that it ably translates the film—which starred Casal and Daveed Diggs as two men attempting to wrestle with police brutality, culture clashes, and the changing face of Oakland—to the small screen. In her review of the series, Kayla Sutton wrote that,
Where this brilliant series most notably succeeds is in repositioning the same type of story within a new perspective, all while tackling how someone’s actions affect the lives of those around them. The show borrows heavily from the film, incorporating verse, fourth wall breaks, and isolating cutscenes, and stretches those moments to fit within Ashley’s perspective. Seith Mann (Homeland, #FreeRayshawn) directs the first few episodes, and his style seems heavily influenced by Spike Lee. But it’s fantastic to see how that influence creates a truly immersive and modern viewing experience.
The first season of Blindspotting ran for eight episodes, ending in the Casal-directed “Bride Or Die.” (Diggs, who co-wrote both the film, and several episodes of the show, with Casal, also briefly appears in a voice cameo.) Casal and Diggs released a statement earlier today, one of the few such press statements we’ve ever read in which a major-sized cable network is said to have “fucked around”:
We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for Season 1, and have been hard at work for the last few months crafting the next chapter of this Bay story. We are so excited to bring the next season to life with the incredible artistry of our cast and crew, and our partners STARZ and Lionsgate. They done fucked around and gave us more runway, so welcome back to the ordeal!