Since premiering on March 7th, The Gentlemen has remained one of the most-watched episodic exclusives on Netflix, which hypothetically puts it in with a very high chance of being renewed for a second season.
After spending three consecutive weeks at the top of the streaming service’s viewership rankings, it’s right there in the data that subscribers can’t get enough of Guy Ritchie’s labyrinthine crime thriller, which is set in the same universe as his 2019 movie starring Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Grant but tells an entirely different and completely standalone story.
At the end of the eighth and so far final episode, all of the pieces have been put into place for The Gentlemen to pick up right where it left off. However, Netflix hasn’t pulled the trigger yet and has committed to season two in an official capacity, although the numbers make it perfectly clear there’s a huge appetite for more.
As tends to be the case with any major small-screen production, one of the biggest roadblocks could be scheduling. Creator and executive producer Ritchie co-wrote and directed the first two episodes, but he’s got a packed line-up of future projects, including an untitled action movie starring Henry Cavill and Jake Gyllenhaal, as well as AppleTV+ adventure Fountain of Youth with John Krasinski and Natalie Portman.
Giancarlo Esposito admitted that “nothing was ever discussed of a second season” when the cast signed their contracts, and he’s a highly in-demand actor in his own right. On the other side of the coin, Miramax TV boss Marc Helwig revealed shortly after The Gentlemen debuted on Netflix that “we have started that process” in regards to season two.
The likes of Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Joely Richardson, Ray Winstone, Freddie Fox, and the rest of the ensemble can’t exactly spend their time sitting around waiting for the platform to commit, with somebody close to the production purportedly telling The Sun that lining up everyone’s dance cards could present a problem.
“It’s going to be quite a challenge getting the same actors back together, but Netflix chiefs are keen for a sequel,” they said. “Another hurdle will be securing Guy for the series as he already has several movie projects in the pipeline this year. But the success of series one has already convinced them there’s huge potential for a follow-up.”
It would be more of a surprise at this point were The Gentlemen not renewed for season 2, but if and when that happens, it could be a while before the stars align to get the key players back in front of and behind the camera.
