Netflix's The Society Canceled: What We Knew About Season 2

Update 8/21/20: Netflix has canceled The Society, despite renewing it for a second season last summer. According to sources, uncertainty around production dates and balancing the availabilities and needs of the large ensemble cast, in addition to budget increases due to COVID-19, led to the cancellation decision.

Previously 4/2/20: The Societyis easily Netflix's best YA drama yet, so it should come as no surprise that the streaming service renewed it for a second season. And while viewers still know so little about the mysterious world of New Ham (and that dog!), we fortunately already know a lot regarding what to expect when the teen drama returns later this year.

As details are announced and theories come together, we'll update this story to feature all the latest news on the anticipated return of The Society. So check out everything we know so far about Season 2 below.

It will premiere in 2020. The cast of The Society revealed in July that the show had been renewed for Season 2 in an adorable video in which they promised the new episodes would provide more answers about the show's biggest mysteries. The clip also included the very important information that the second season of the Netflix hit would be coming in 2020, with production set to resume in late 2019.

Many fans assumed that The Society would once again air in the spring, since the first season debuted in May. However, Season 2 of The Society isn't expected until late 2020.

All the main players are expected to return. While Netflix didn't announce an official cast list for Season 2, fans can safely predict that they'll be seeing all of their favorite (living) characters again. Season 2 is expected to see the returns of Kathryn Newton (Allie), Jacques Colimon (Will), Toby Wallace (Campbell), Gideon Adlon (Becca), Sean Berdy (Sam), Jack Mulhern (Grizz), Alex Fitzalan (Harry), Kristine Froseth (Kelly), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Helena), Olivia DeJonge (Elle), José Julián (Gordie), Salena Qureshi (Bean), Alex MacNicoll (Luke), Spencer House (Clark), Emilio Garcia-Sanchez (Jason), Olivia Nikkanen (Gwen), and Grace Victoria Cox (Lexie).

In fact, viewers can definitely expect to see a lot more of Nikkanen's Gwen, as she was upped to a series regular role for the sophomore season, per Deadline.

Allie and Will are going to be in serious danger. Season 1 ended with the duo being imprisoned by Campbell after he seized control of New Ham, and creator Christopher Keyser warned that just because Allie is the hero of this story doesn't mean that she necessarily is safe.

"I think the show suggests that [they] could be [in] really serious danger," Keyser told TV Guide in May. "After all, it would not be entirely outside the realm of what even Allie and Will had decided they needed to do in terms of consolidating power. I think the show suggests that people are willing to go to pretty dark places in order to protect themselves. I'm not saying that's going to happen, but I don't think anyone should feel like anyone is safe."

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Harry might be the key to saving Allie. Although Harry allowed Campbell to imprison Allie and Will in the Season 1 finale, Newton told Cosmopolitanthat she thinks he may be the key to her escape. "Harry really likes Allie, he might help her out and come back around," she said. "He looked pretty sad when she was taken away."

But hey, if Harry proves once again to be a pitiful coward, it definitely seemed like Kelly was ready to do whatever it took to keep Allie and Will safe, so at least someone will be around to help.

We haven't seen the last of the parents in West Ham. The final shot of Season 1 took us back to West Ham, where we saw the town still mourning the loss of the teens, and Keyser said this won't be the last we see of that world. "It's not going to split 50/50, but I think we said to the audience that we can go back there if we want," he said. "And we have some thoughts about when we might, and so that is definitely possible that we will shift perspectives and show some moments in West Ham."

We'll likely learn the identity of the father of Becca's baby. While the cast of The Society remains as in the dark as viewers regarding most of the show's big mysteries, Newton revealed that she already knows the identity of Eden's father. The fact that Keyser shared this dirt with the cast makes us suspect that the truth is going to come out sooner rather than later -- and according to Newton, it's going to blow fans' minds.

"It's really serious. Like, you're not going to believe it. It's the biggest twist ever," Newton teased. "Who it is meant to be, who I know it is, even for Allie, it's like, are you kidding? So it connects to everyone. It's a big one."

Campbell, Lexie, and Harry's alliance will fall apart. Although the trio teamed up to seize power, they don't trust each other at all, which is going to make it hard to maintain control over New Ham in Season 2. As Keyser explained, "It's true that making decisions can be dangerous, but it's also true that not being able to make decisions, particularly in light of everything they're going to face -- the winter and the requirements that they begin to produce their own food -- I think that's the real question, as to whether they can do that and whether they turn against each other or [if] there's a kind of a gridlock there. It's a little Roman to have these triumvirates of power and you can't tell who's going to turn on whom,"

While we're not shocked to know that Campbell, Lexie, and Harry will likely start turning on each other early into Season 2, we just hope that Campbell doesn't come out of this unscathed. It's time that guy gets what's coming to him!

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Grizz and Sam will probably get back together. Grizz may have broken things off with Sam once he learned about Becca's baby, but Mulhern is betting the two rekindle things soon enough. "I think the fans are clamoring for it, so I think there will be reconciliation, I'm sure," he told Metro. "I would be interested to see the dynamic with the kid," he continued. "That's going to be potential for humor, potential for drama. I think that the kid thrown into the situation is probably at the center of the world from my perspective going forward."

There will probably be a lot more references to analyze. The first season was packed with references -- from plays to films to Greek philosophers -- all of which had layers of meaning behind their inclusion. That's why we'd be shocked if Season 2 wasn't another rich text begging to be dissected. So get out your reading glasses and be ready to put those high school English classes to good use when the show returns.

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Don't expect too many solid answers regarding how the teens got to New Ham or why. Keyser is hoping The Society will run for a "reasonably long series of stories [and] seasons," which means fans should be prepared to wait a while to learn the full truth behind New Ham. That doesn't mean that we won't learn more about their mysterious predicament in Season 2, but that the kids will likely be more focused on trying to get through their day-to-day problems rather than fully dedicate themselves to digging into the question of whether they're really in a parallel universe.

"The question of what the crimes are of West Ham and what that means, and whether those kids are being punished or saved, or exactly how they could get back or if they ever will, those things are all questions that will get played out over time," Keyser said. "There are deep levels to those mysteries but these kids have a lot on their plates in addition to trying to figure out what exactly happened to them."

Season 2 will likely explore the class and race dynamics in New Ham. The first season of The Society spent a lot of time on the gender dynamics in the new world, but with rich kid Harry now in a position of power as co-mayor alongside Lexie, Season 2 seems poised to explore class more directly -- potentially even seeing a caste system develop in New Ham. "What kind of world will Harry and Campbell create when they take over?" Keyser mused to Metro. "And now other things are at stake. With resources running thin, will there be classes of society with people working for other people opposed to being fluid about that?

As for whether he planned to explore race more in future seasons, Keyser told us: "I wouldn't bet against the fact that it will [come up]. But there are a number of times in which there is a reference to race [in Season 1]. For example, in the fifth episode, Dewey talks about Allie and her black boyfriend, he makes a very specific reference to race. And Campbell in the last episode is very clearly using a thinly veiled racial slur against Will. So I would not bet against the idea that race and class and all of that stuff ends up mattering a lot."

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The new episodes probably won't reveal whether or not Dewey (Seth Meriwether) had help in killing Cassandra (Rachel Keller). Although Dewey was convicted for Cassandra's murder, Allie was never convinced that he acted alone. So, is there another killer out there? When we asked Keyser this, he said that we may never know if anyone else helped kill Cassandra with 100 percent certainty, but also acknowledged that he can't say with 100 percent certainty whether he won't bring this storyline back at some point. TL;DR, Keyser isn't planning on exploring this question in Season 2, but hasn't ruled it out being relevant again in the future.

For her part, Newton told us that she isn't quite sure whether or not Dewey acted alone, but she thinks if he did have a co-conspirator in killing Allie's sister, the top suspect is obvious. "It would definitely be Campbell because Campbell's always so sus," she explained.

The Society will return for Season 2 in 2020. Season 1 is available to stream on Netflix now.