Everything you need to know about a possible second outing for the Netflix chess drama.
The Queen’s Gambit was an instant success when it landed on Netflix back in 2020, with the show going on to pick up a number of awards, including a Best Actress Critics Choice award and Golden Globe win for Anya Taylor-Joy.
While the show was billed as a limited series and is based on a book by Walter Tevis to which there is no sequel, its huge success sparked talk of a potential season 2.
There has been no official confirmation of a second season, but the cast and crew have kept fans’ hopes alive with their recent comments.
Taylor-Joy recently told Town & Country that she isn’t ruling out a season 2, though she did admit that she thought the first season ended in a good place.
She said: “If I’ve learned anything from being in this industry, it’s never say never. I adore the character. And I would certainly come back if I was asked to, but I do think we leave Beth in a good place.”
Read on for everything you need to know about the possibility of a second season of The Queen’s Gambit.
Will there be a second season of The Queen’s Gambit?
At this stage, a second season seems unlikely, especially after comments made by executive producer William Horberg following the Golden Globes nominations.
Speaking to Deadline, he said that he appreciated the enthusiastic fan reaction that had greeted the series, saying: “It’s wonderful to know that people loved the show where they want to spend more time with these characters; we never envisioned it that way.”
But he went on to say that both he and creator Scott Frank were happy with the manner in which the series ended, appearing to rule out a second season in the process.
“We felt that the series had a satisfying endpoint and we’d allow the audience to fill in the space as to what happens next for Beth Harmon,” he said.
“Nothing has changed, despite fans demanding more on my Twitter feed. Scott and I feel really happy about the completeness of Beth’s story.”
Upon winning a Best Actress Critics Choice award in March 2021, Taylor-Joy underlined the fact that she had not ruled out returning to the character further down the line, although she did admit that it was unlikely in the near future.
As reported by Deadline, the star said, “It is obviously incredibly flattering that people want to spend more time with characters that we care so much about and that we poured so much love into.
“But we did intend it to be a limited series, so we were all quite surprised when people started asking for Season 2. That being said, never say never.”
Co-star Harry Melling also previously seemed keen on the idea of a sequel, saying: “It’d be good, right, a Queen’s Gambit part two? The place we end in the limited series is the place we end in the book. I don’t know if there can be another one, but stranger things have happened.”
However, comments made by executive producer William Horberg are less promising – while he acknowledged that the creative team enjoyed talking about what might happen next in the story, he doesn’t seem convinced that another series should follow.
“The last scene feels like a beautiful note to end the show on, so I’m not sure if we want to go on and answer that question,” he explained. “Maybe we can just let the audience imagine what comes next.”
Of course, it should also be noted that Netflix always pays particularly close attention to viewing figures when it comes to renewing its shows, so given the huge success of The Queen’s Gambit the streamer could yet be keen to revive it for another series.
Should we hear any developments we’ll let you know right away – so make sure you keep checking back!
Who could star in a potential second season of The Queen’s Gambit?
Well, we certainly couldn’t imagine the series without Anya-Taylor Joy in the lead role, so any second season would be sure to feature her once again.
We’d also hope to see some more of supporting players such as Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Harry Melling and Moses Ingram, but season one stars Bill Camp and Marielle Heller would be unlikely to feature given their characters both pass away during the events of the Limited Series.
Of course this is all speculative at this stage – a new series has not been announced and is still relatively unlikely, but we’ll let you know if anything changes on that front.
What could happen in a potential second season of The Queen’s Gambit?
As mentioned above, there is no sequel to the Walter Tevis source novel and so any future seasons would have to be a completely original story.
So what would happen? Of course, the first series ended with Beth defeating the greatest chess player in the world, but that doesn’t mean she’d stay at the top forever. Her demons could come back to haunt her, while there’s also the possibility that she could be challenged by a new upstart – in fact, this is even hinted at in the limited series when she has a very close match with a young player at a tournament.
There’s also the possibility that we could learn even more about Beth’s troubled childhood, or that we could further explore one of the many impressive supporting characters.
It’s worth noting, by the way, that a follow up almost certainly wouldn’t go against the spirit of Tevis’ work – the novelist spoke of the possibility of writing a second novel about Beth Harmon, but he died before he had the chance, and so continuing the story is certainly an option.
The Queen’s Gambit is currently streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Drama coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.