Gentleman Jack creator Sally Wainwright has teased that there was some “juicy stuff” lined up for the period drama’s third season prior to HBO’s recent cancellation of the show.
Earlier this month, HBO announced it would not be continuing with the drama – which stars Suranne Jones as Britain’s ‘first modern lesbian’ Anne Lister and was a co-production between the US channel and the BBC – however, the BBC said in a statement that it was “in discussions” with Wainwright about “what’s next”.
When asked whether she had already begun writing Gentleman Jack‘s third season before hearing the cancellation news, the BAFTA-winning writer told RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview that the remainder of Lister’s diaries had been transcribed in preparation for new episodes.
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“We’ve got the diaries transcribed and again – that’s another legacy of the series,” she said. “The entire diary has now been transcribed by the fans, by people who have been joining in the West Yorkshire Archive Service project to get the whole diary transcribed.
“You know, it’s just a phenomenal achievement. It’s 7,500 pages, it’s 5 million words.”
Wainwright added that while she hadn’t yet read the diaries, she knew there were some exciting plot lines to explore.
“We have had the diary transcribed for a possible third series and, you know, I haven’t read them all yet because I didn’t want to tempt fate but I know a lot of what’s in there and it’s good stuff, it’s juicy stuff, it would make great drama.
“The kind of thing you’d love to see Suranne getting her laughing gear around as an actor, you know? It could be wonderful, but we’ll see.”
There’s still hope for Gentleman Jack’s future, with Wainwright saying that the BBC is “up for” renewing the show but will need a new streaming partner to keep up the production value.
“I think all those other options are being explored at the minute given that there is a desire to go on with it amongst quite a lot of people – the BBC, Lookout Point, myself, you know,” she explained.
The Happy Valley writer added that she originally planned for Gentleman Jack to last four seasons and claimed that the “bewildering” cancellation was due to HBO budget cuts as the channel is “not as interested in period drama” anymore.
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