The Gentlemen finale potentially sets up a much darker second season (spoilers!)

Guy Ritchie's new series The Gentlemen, which is a spinoff of his successful 2019 crime drama film starring Matthew McConaughey, is already earning rave reviews from critics and audiences alike.

The series follows the Horniman family, specifically Theo James' character Eddie Horniman, second son of the 12th Duke of Halstead. The late Duke's death kicks off the series and upon the reading of the will, his immediate family learns that the former patriarch has left the entire Halstead estate and manor to Eddie instead of his eldest son, Freddy (Daniel Ings).

Further complicating matters is the discovery that the late Duke has been letting the Glass family run a marijuana grow house on the estate, hidden away beneath a dairy farm. Eddie soon finds himself thrust into the middle of a significant criminal enterprise and the many dangers and difficulties that causes.

Major spoilers ahead for The Gentlemen ending

Across the first season's eight episodes, we see Eddie undergo a dark journey as he tries to extricate himself from the criminals on his property. He's adamant that he wants Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario), daughter of Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone), to pack up and get their grow house off of their property. But he and Susie are pulled into many tricky situations that only seem to pull Eddie deeper into the criminal underground.

How does The Gentlemen season 1 end?

In the season finale, Susie and Eddie actually come together as a united front to invest in Bobby's business. Bobby reveals he wants to sell his business and instructs the duo to field the best possible offers. They receive offers from Mercy Moreno, Sticky Pete, and Stanley Johnston (Giancarlo Esposito). But then Freddy inspires Eddie to embrace his dark side.

It turns out he's quite good at all this gangster stuff. So, Eddie and Susie conspire to get Stan arrested and have Mercy kill Pete, and then even hire Henry Collins to kill Pete, thus leaving them in the clear to take over the business. Bobby is impressed with their fortitude and reveals he was never going to sell the business, he only wanted to "activate" Susie and Eddie and get them to invest, particularly Eddie, who he believes could become his new general, giving orders so they can expand the Glass empire.

The season ends with Eddie giving Susie a special gift, i.e. Henry Collins all tied up and gagged. He doesn't hesitate to shoot Henry in the head when Susie offers him the opportunity, thus completing his transformation into a full-on criminal.

Possible directions for The Gentlemen season 2 (if it gets renewed)

Given how The Gentlemen ends with Susie, Bobby, and Eddie now all in cahoots officially, it seems like season 2 could get much darker, for Eddie, in particular. The first season already showed that he could kill people without really batting an eye or being impacted by it in the same as, say, his brother.

But now that he's going to be more in charge and pushing forward with the Glass family, I can imagine that he will have to get his hands much dirtier.

Then there's the fact that Bobby Glass is now in prison alongside Stanley Johnston. The last scene of the finale shows them chatting as Bobby starts showing him the ropes of his fancy set-up. It seems like there is a good indication that Bobby and Stanley will begin plotting together behind bars. But given Stanley wants Bobby's business and Bobby wants to expand, it seems like they will either become partners or betray each other in the end.

Other plotlines that could be followed up a second season including the paternity of Charly's baby, a potential romance between Eddie and Princess Rosanna (or Susie?), and maybe a check-in on Jimmy and Gabrielle, since we don't see how they end up at the end. I'm sure Freddy hasn't finished getting himself into trouble either.

But the stakes for the Horniman family have definitely been significantly raised, so we're hopeful that Netflix will renew the show for a second season. There has been no word just yet on if that's going to happen, but we'll keep you posted on any updates or news we learn about The Gentlemen's future.

Everything that's been said about plans for The Gentlemen season 2

According to Deadline, Miramax boss Marc Helwig is hopeful that The Gentlemen will get a second season and potentially even usher in a "some kind of universe, a Guy Ritchie world." It might even lead to another movie, down the line.

For now, there are already discussions about where The Gentlemen could go if it gets renewed for another season. Ritchie reportedly already has ideas for season 2 and the show was always envisioned as something that could become an ongoing series.

"We have started that process. There are some writers we’ve talked to, certainly lots of discussion with Guy about what he might want to do in a second season, what things to focus on."

- Marc Helwig

The show still has to perform well enough for Netflix to grant the green light, but it's a good sign that there is an "active ongoing discussion already."