Adolescence star and creator Stephen Graham discusses potential second season

Adolescence is brutal to watch, and it never relents. The story of a 13-year-old boy, Jamie, accused of killing his classmate, Katie, has become a global megahit. But what that says about us as a society might not be good.

The series is riveting, and we watch even when we do not want to. Did Jamie kill Katie, and if so, why? He might have done it for many reasons, but consistently says he did not. His father, Eddie (played by series co-creator Stephen Graham), does not want to believe his son would do something so awful, but what parent would?

One thing seemed sure, however. The ending of the series was final, and there couldn't possibly be a second season. Or so it appeared.

Could there be a second season of Adolescence on Netflix?

Graham and co-producer and real-life wife Hannah Walters recently spoke with Variety about the potential that a second season could be made. Viewers might ask: Why would there need to be a second season, and how could it be as high-quality?

Graham and Walters's answer to a new season was vague, but if one reads through the lines, there will not be a second season. Graham and Walters may partner with Netflix to create a different one-shot drama. The style worked for Adolescence, but would Netflix subscribers be willing to buy entirely into the same technique for a different story?

The other option is to develop the same type of plotline for a new season, only with a different cast of characters. This has been successful for other shows, such as Fargo and True Detective. Both series remained vibrant through many seasons, not just one or two.

The difference would be that viewers would be watching children do criminal things, and that kind of high-emotion might have a shorter shelf life than a series where adults are the (seemingly) bad guys.

According to Walters, there will be no prequel to Adolescence as the story has been told entirely and does not need to be revisited.

She told Variety, "A prequel to Adolescence, that’s certainly not going to happen. But there’s so much mileage in the one-shot and so much mileage in investing into human nature again and looking at something else. But yeah, everything’s looking good (to develop something in the future with Netflix)... everyone’s happy, shall we say?"

In other words, Graham and Walters will probably bring something new to Netflix, but the project might be completely different from what Adolescence was like. Heck, maybe it could even be a comedy. Anything appears possible.

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