One of Netflix’s Biggest TV Shows Gets a Definitive Season 2 Update From Star, 6 Years Later (& It’s Good News)

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Netflix has a reputation for canceling popular shows, often leaving fans disappointed. Sometimes this happens because a show doesn’t gain enough traction quickly enough, but other times, despite a dedicated audience, Netflix still decides to end it. That’s what happened recently with a series that attracted millions of viewers – it was canceled after only one season. Now, the show’s lead actor is addressing the cancellation and confirming whether or not the story will continue.

Anya Taylor-Joy became a star thanks to her role as Elizabeth Harmon, a brilliant but troubled chess player, in the 2020 Netflix miniseries The Queen’s Gambit. The show was an instant success when it premiered in October, quickly becoming Netflix’s most popular program ever. It dominated awards shows, winning eleven Primetime Emmys and two Golden Globes, including a Best Actress award for Taylor-Joy. Many expected Netflix to continue the story as a full series – which is now common practice – but six years later, fans are still hoping to see what happens next.

Anya Taylor-Joy Reveals The Status of The Queen’s Gambit Season 2.

Anya Taylor-Joy is currently promoting her new show, Lucky, on Apple TV+. While talking with ET, she was asked about the possibility of a sequel or continuation of her hit series, The Queen’s Gambit, and it doesn’t sound like one is planned.

Anya Taylor-Joy believes the story is perfect as it is and doesn’t need any additions. She feels that changing it now would actually diminish its impact, and it’s already beautifully complete, ‘wrapped up with a bow,’ as she put it.

You know, as a big fan of the show, I totally get where Scott Frank, the guy who ran things, directed, and produced it, is coming from. He told Deadline a while back that he feels like they really nailed the story they set out to tell, and honestly, he’s worried – even a little scared – that trying to continue it would just mess up everything they already achieved. It’s a good point, actually – sometimes it’s best to leave well enough alone!

Why Netflix Isn’t Doing The Queen’s Gambit Season 2 (And Never Needs To)

I was completely captivated by The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix! It’s based on a novel from 1983 by Walter Tevis, and while a lot of people thought the main character, Elizabeth Harmon, was a real person, she was actually created for the story. I, like many others, found myself hoping for more adventures with her after finishing the series – there’s so much potential in her life as a chess prodigy. But it’s good to remember that Tevis wrote a single, complete novel, not a series. The show really felt like a deep dive into what it means to be a brilliant woman navigating a world built for men, and it’s full of subtle details and character work that makes it so powerful.

One key to the success of the Netflix series was that Scott Frank and Allan Scott recognized the need to carefully adapt the complex source material for television. A continuation of Beth Harmon’s story, simply titled ‘The Continuing Adventures of Lizzy Harmon,’ wouldn’t have been the best approach. It’s easy to see why someone might want that, though – audiences now expect a constant stream of content they enjoy. Often, they’re less concerned with staying true to the original story or respecting the format of a limited series versus an ongoing one.

Similar to the impact of The Queen’s Gambit, Disney and Hulu experienced a major Emmy success with Shōgun in 2024. The critically acclaimed miniseries, based on James Clavell’s historical novel, was so popular that the studio decided to continue it as an ongoing series, greenlighting a second season. This led to Shōgun winning a record-breaking 18 Emmys for a single television season, along with four Golden Globes, including the award for Best Television Series – Drama. Now that Season 2 is in production, the question is whether the show can maintain its high quality and critical acclaim without the source material of Clavell’s novel to support it.

Unlike some adaptations, Game of Thrones is often cited as an example of a TV show that went on for too long after finishing the original books. The final seasons of the HBO series lacked the support of George R.R. Martin’s novels, and even the spin-off shows have performed better when based on more developed parts of Martin’s work, like A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, than when relying on incomplete ideas or retellings, as seen with House of the Dragon.

Netflix is smart to leave the success of Queen’s Gambit alone. They’ve seen that trying to replicate shows that were popular during the pandemic doesn’t always work (like with Squid Game). Share your thoughts on TV shows that ended too soon with us on the ComicBook Forum!

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/news/hulu-officially-begins-production-on-season-2-of-its-emmys-record-breaking-series/embed/#

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2026-02-18 21:43