The Alienist season 2: Everything you need to know
Note: Contains spoilers for The Alienist.
Netflix and TNT's The Alienist tells the story of Daniel Brühl's Laszlo Kreizler, a psychologist who's investigating a never-before-seen ritualistic killer murdering children in New York.
Across the ten episodes, Kreizler is aided by Dakota Fanning's ambitious police secretary/aspiring detective Sarah Howard and Luke Evans' newspaper illustrator John Moore. Together, the gang seek out the murderer by examining his mental pathologies and the physical evidence.
A second season of the show was confirmed back in August 2018, but that wasn't always the case.
"It was always a limited series, that was the plan," Brühl told NME. "So I didn't think any further than that. But we all agree that we wouldn't mind going back because we love each other so much and we love our characters."
And according to Evans, it might not have been a TV series at all: "They tried to make it into a feature film for 10 years and it failed because it's just too dense of a story. I think we've finally found the right format for it.
"Every episode is like a small movie because the production values are so high. You can't watch one straight after the other, you have to absorb what you've seen because it is so beautifully done. But I'm sure many people will still binge it."
(We did).
The second chapter will be based on the sequel to the original novel, The Angel of Darkness, and the plan is to retitle the entire show after the book.
Frank Pugliese has been announced as showrunner.
"Following the tremendous success of The Alienist, we are excited to welcome an immensely talented and accomplished showrunner who could not only do justice to Caleb Carr's popular sequel but also add a unique point of view," said Sarah Aubrey, executive vice president of original programming at TNT.
"With Frank, we have found a three-time Emmy Award nominee whose unique skills will surely catapult The Angel of Darkness to the same heights of success as its predecessor."
Pugliese has plenty of writing experience, with Netflix's House of Cards and Borgia, BBC America's Copper and an episode of NBC's Law & Order on his CV. And his first TV credit, a 1993 episode of NBC's Homicide: Life on the Street, earned him a Writers' Guild award. So yeah, he's good.
"I am thrilled for the opportunity to work with the talented cast, crew and team that brought The Alienist to life," said Pugliese. "Myself and the writers coming on board for The Angel of Darkness are looking forward to continuing this story born from the wondrous imagination of Caleb Carr."
And if The Alienist sounds a bit Victorian True Detective, that's because it is, but here's hoping that its second season will be a better than that show's second run.
Here's everything you need to know.
The Alienist season 2 release date: When will it be on?
Season two is likely to follow the same pattern as season one – broadcasting weekly on US TV on TNT from January, before landing all-in-one-go on Netflix in the UK a few months later. The cast was certainly pleased with this release structure when the Netflix deal was revealed.
Nothing has been confirmed in terms of the air date, but our best bet is sometime this year.
The Alienist season 2 cast: Who'll be in it?
All of the lead cast from the first season has been confirmed, so that's Daniel Brühl as the eponymous Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, Luke Evans as John Moore and Dakota Fanning as Sara Howard.
Chatting about what he enjoys most about the show to NME, Brühl said: "I love the gore and the dark elements. I find it fascinating because it's in us, I suppose. At least in me. We are afraid of it and yet fascinated by it.
"Sometimes we don’t allow ourselves to express that we like darkness – that we have horrible, evil thoughts. But it is very human."
"The challenge, and the fun part of playing her, was finding that balance of what she accepts, and what she challenges, which might be different than what I would accept, and what I would challenge in today's world. She challenges more than she accepts, and I loved that," Fanning told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
"But I think sometimes it's so unfair that when you play someone who's a strong woman, you can't show any vulnerability. And I loved getting to bring vulnerability to her, and the fragility that we all have as human beings, and getting to see how that tough exterior affects her when she's alone.
"I liked finding that balance between who she thinks she has to be to accomplish something and who she really wants to be, and it also seems very relevant to the conversations that are happening now."
Douglas Smith should also return, as long as his turn on Big Little Lies season two doesn't keep him too busy, while other stars who could come back include Brian Geraghty as Theodore Roosevelt and Douglas Smith and Matthew Shear as Marcus and Lucius Isaacson.
The original novel also featured historical figures like prominent lawyer Clarence Darrow, suffragist and women's rights leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton and eccentric painter Albert Pinkham Ryder, so we'll wait to see if the show casts those characters for the TV adaptation.
The Alienist season 2 plot: What will it be about?
In the original book series, The Angel of Darkness was set in 1897 – one year after The Alienist – with Sara Howard, now a private detective seeking out Dr Kreizler's help in finding the kidnapped infant daughter of a visiting Spanish dignitary.
Dr Kreizler reunites with Sara, John Moore and the rest of the original team, with their search for the missing child bringing them into contact with a mysterious woman with a murderous past who is connected to a notorious gang.
It remains to be seen how closely the second season will follow the novel, especially as the first season was shown to have a relevance with the modern age, something Daniel Brühl seemed keen to continue.
"There are issues that have relevance now and that are incredibly current and it was only halfway through the show we realised, unfortunately, how incredibly current and relevant the show feels," Brühl said. "So, 1896 in New York isn't that far away from what we're living through and experiencing nowadays.
"There's a huge division gap between the very rich and the poor, and sexual harassment, gender issues and the immigrations crisis, and corruption in the police and corruption in politics – it's all still happening, which is sad."
Sara's journey from secretary to investigator explored a lot of very relevant concepts - abuse of power, sexual harassment, suppression of women's voices - and in a post #TimesUp and #MeToo world, those are themes we'd expect season two to explore in more depth.
Let's hope that, in the process, The Angel of Darkness will also add a whole load of female characters, especially following the death of Q'orianka Kilcher's Mary Palmer in season one.
And let's also hope that Dakota Fanning gets a more comfortable costume to wear this time out, as she (genuinely) fainted on season one because of her outfit.
"I actually fainted during my first fitting which gives you some indication [of what it was like to wear a corset]," the star told Digital Spy.
"It was a completely easy way in to the character Sara and the time period. I've worn a corset for other roles and but I'm always so shocked about how it changes everything – about the way you sit, walk, move, breathe. How much you can eat, how much you can't. It's tight."
The Alienist season 2 trailer: When can I watch it?
Not just yet. First up, we need that all-important air date.
Once we have that, we'll be able to make an educated guess (expect it to arrive in the month leading up to the premiere).
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