Netflix has renewed breakout hit series The Hunting Wives starring Malin Åkerman and Brittany Snow for a second season. As expected, the racy Texas drama, from Lionsgate Television and 3 Arts Entertainment, will become a Netflix-branded series that will stream exclusively on the platform in all but four countries Netflix is available, Deadline has learned. Like Season 1, the second season will consist of 8 episodes, sources said, with the main cast set to return.
Created by Rebecca Cutter, The Hunting Wives’ first season was based on the bestselling novel by May Cobb. Season 2 will be an original concept-based continuation of the story, using the Season 1 finale as a jumping-off point. At the start of Season 2, Sophie (Snow) and Margo (Åkerman) are on the outs. But soon enough, old secrets and new foes force them back together. As they play their dangerous games the question arises. Are they the hunters or the hunted?
Snow and Åkerman channel the Sophie-Margo dynamic from Season 1 in a video announcing the renewal, which you can watch below. It ends with Åkerman, in Margo’s wig, saying, “Pack your boots and load your guns. We’re going back to Maple Brook for Season 2, baby.” (The line, which reflects the show’s fun vibe, lands a little different in the wake of this week’s tragic event.)
The Hunting Wives
Netflix
The Hunting Wives — originally developed and produced for Lionsgate TV’s then-sibling Starz before the studio acquired back the rights in the two companies’ May split — started off as a Netflix U.S.-only acquisition in a one-year domestic licensing deal, with its first season launching on Netflix July 21 without the streamer’s “N” branding at the start of each episode.
At the time, The Hunting Wives already had launched on Stan in Australia, Crave in Canada, OSN in the Middle East and HOT in Israel, and the show had been sold in at least 10 more territories. As Deadline reported last week, amid The Hunting Wives‘ outsized success on Netflix in the U.S., Lionsgate TV put further international rollout on hold as the studio entered renewal conversations with the global streamer.
A Netflix pickup requires global rights, leading to Lionsgate reworking their existing international distribution deals. In the end, The Hunting Wives Season 2 will be available in all Netflix markets except four, Canada, Australia and two other European territories, sources said. Conversations are underway for Season 1, which also is expected to become available on Netflix exclusively in most countries.
The Hunting Wives‘ renewal follows an impressive ratings performance for Season 1.
After launching with little fanfare and no formal promotional campaign on a Monday, the steamy drama became a staple on Netflix’s U.S. Top 10 for six weeks running, including a stint at No.1, and also spent its first five weeks in the global English Top 10, amassing over 20M views, despite only being available in the US.
Lionsgate TV had options on the cast, which have been exercised, with all Season 1 series regulars whose characters’ fate allows them to return back, including Snow, Akerman, Jaime Ray Newman, Dermot Mulroney, Evan Jonigkeit and George Ferrier.
“I’m so excited to write these amazing characters again, and I can’t wait to take the audience on another sexy, twisted, batshit crazy ride through Maple Brook,” Cutler said.
She executive produces the series alongside Erwin Stoff for 3 Arts Entertainment and Cobb.
The success of The Hunting Wives on Netflix also buoyed sales of Cobb’s book, originally published in 2021. In one week following the show’s release, the publisher went back to press twice on the trade paperback and saw a +5,000% increase across all formats in the same one-week period year over year.
Cutter, who also was the creator, showrunner and executive producer of Starz’s Hightown, is repped by CAA, Artists Collective, and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.
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