Yahoo Finance Seen Annie Murphy and Natasha Lyonne on the Set of ‘Russian Doll’ Season 2
You’ve binged the hell out of Natasha Lyonne's Russian Doll. Hell, you’ve watched it a dozen times—including that gut-punch of a finale. You know when Nadia's going to say “kaka-roach.” You know just how subtly Maxine’s “Sweet birthday baby” changes every time.
So, naturally, you're wondering: Is there going to be a second season? Here's what we know.
Has a second season been confirmed?
In June 2019, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that there would be a second season of Russian Doll, consisting of eight episodes. Lyonne and Netflix Originals' Cindy Holland nodded to the continuation at Recode's Code Conference: “Same show, just weirder,” said Lyonne. “The character is a coder, so it would be appropriate to have this be the time and place to say, yes.”
The show's official Twitter account also confirmed it:
Did you get the news? 'Cause you're about to die. Season 2 of #RussianDoll is coming soon! pic.twitter.com/keE0gN35I8
— Russian Doll (@RussianDoll) June 11, 2019
The second season is a also good sign that ultimately, there might be three seasons of the cult show. Lyonne and co-creator Leslye Headland told Thrillist after the first season aired that the team pitched Netflix three seasons of the show, but future seasons might look nothing like the existing one: “Certainly there's additional things that we would love to explore if it makes sense to do it,” Lyonne said. “Some of my ideas veer pretty wildly from exactly this world, some sort of stay in it.”
“We definitely pitched it as this three-season idea and yet it’s so interesting to think about how that shapes and morphs in the time since making it,” Lyonne told The Hollywood Reporter in a February 2019 interview. “Who knows if we’ll be lucky enough to go back down the rabbit hole. That’s tomorrow’s question. But I think we have some ideas.”
Headland told The Hollywood Reporter in January of that year: “We pitched Netflix three seasons of the most bonkers, heartfelt, passionate, this-is-what-we-truly-feel-like-is-our-story-to-tell idea… And they said: ‘Great, the more of that the better.’”
What questions remain unsolved from the first season?
The finale, while emotionally resonant, was a little ambiguous in terms of what it meant in real-world terms. You could read the whole thing as an “existential adventure,” as Lyonne herself once called it, that doesn't have any relationship with the real world. Or you could puzzle over whether Nadia and Charlie are actually dead, what the final scene's parade meant, whether the individual timelines did spiral out into their existences. Are they in purgatory? And what’s Horse’s real story? Oh my God, my head hurts.
What could a second season look like?
According to Lyonne, there are plenty of ways it could go. “I definitely have ideas that range from the really out-there anthology to staying on board with our friend Nadia,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Certainly, what we pitched and the heart and soul of Russian Doll, I’d love to continue to get to work in that way. It’s very satisfying and kind of wild… The idea that they would conceivably follow us on that course, should we jump off that cliff, it's pretty fun to even consider the fantasy.”
“We all have more to tell as artists,” Headland said. “When initially pitched, Nadia was a presence throughout all three of them. But it was not in a very conventional way, if that makes sense. She was always a presence, as we knew Lyonne would always be the beating heart and soul of this show.”
One thing that might affect potential future seasons is viewers’ responses. Headland told IndieWire in February 2019 that she enjoyed the “immediate feedback” afforded by Netflix's streaming model: “We’ll know within that first week what are the aspects of this world that people are really responding to. What are the things that feel like they’re popping and working, and what are the things that maybe aren’t?”
Sounds tantalizing!
Who would be in the cast?
On March 9, 2021, TVLine reported Schitt’s Creek alum Annie Murphy was cast in season 2 of Russian Doll.
Paparazzi has since captured photos of Murphy and Lyonne shooting in New York City.
House of Cards alum Carolyn Michelle Smith and District 9 actor Sharlto Copley both joined the cast of season 2 in spring 2021.
When will it premiere?
No word yet, but season 2 appears to be shooting right now. Lyonne retweeted a photo posted by a fan site of herself on set, and more set photos have since emerged.
Watch this space.
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