13 Reasons Why season 2: Who's in the cast, and what's going to happen? Everything you need to know
Ready to watch Netflix's hit high school drama now the series has been released? Check out our full spoiler-free guide to the new season including plot, trailers and new characters
"Their story isn't over". 13 Reasons Why season one may have ended where it started with Hannah Baker's tragic suicide, but Netflix is not done with one of its most successful series ever launched.
Season two was released on Friday 18th May with 13 brand new episodes. The cast are acutely aware of the tough issues they will be confronting in the new run, recording new content warnings and explaining what viewers can do if they are affected by the series.
However, the series is once again set to be one of the most talked about shows of the year. Here's your updated guide to everything you need to know about 13 Reasons Why season 2 on Netflix.
When was 13 Reasons Why season two released on Netflix?
The first season of 13 Reasons Why was released on 31st March last year, but one year later there was still no news of a season two release date.
Finally, though, the date was revealed: 13 Reasons Why season two would be released on Friday 18th May 2018. The show landed around 8am UK time, and fans have been quick to start streaming the new episodes.
It's arguably unfortunate timing though for UK fans, with exam season just getting underway. We talk about that in more detail here, but Netflix has said in a statement that if anyone is concerned about the distraction to revision, they can use PIN controls to limit access to certain shows.
"As 13 Reasons Why is a global show, season two will launch at the same time on the same day in all our 190 markets. In the UK, it coincidentally coincides with exam period, but within regular school term in other countries," a statement explained.
The release date announcement followed a short tease for the new season along with the tagline, "The truth is developing". Later trailers and the official season two synopsis confirmed that Polaroid photos would be key to the new episodes, replacing Hannah's tapes from season one.
Read more: 13 Reasons Why cast record new content warning video ahead of season two
Is there a trailer?
Yes, a FULL trailer for season two was released on Tuesday 8th May 2018. The spine tingling footage features all sorts of premonitions for what could happen in the upcoming episodes, from mysterious Polaroid photos to Clay possibly drastically taking matters into his own hands.
Watch in full below.
It's the first proper look we've had at the new series after weeks of build-up. The stylish date announcement video below shows all the major players in season two in freeze frame surrounded by polaroid photos, all but confirming that these will be the new "analogue technology" creator Brian Yorkey teased last year.
Oh, and if you're wondering what the song playing in the 13 Reasons Why trailer announcement above is, it's Depeche Mode's 1993 single I Feel You.
Who's in the cast for 13 Reasons Why season 2?
Dylan Minnette as Clay, Brandon Flynn's Justin Foley and Alisha Boe as Jessica Davis all return, along with Christian Navarro (Tony), Miles Heizer (Alex) and Justin Prentice (Bryce).
The cast is also set to include Ross Butler as Zach and Michele Selene Ang as Courtney.
Even season one star Katherine Langford is set to return, although in a very different form to season one. She appears in flashbacks, but also as a kind of hallucination inside Clay's head. Her presence, for better or worse, is keenly felt in the new episodes.
"The Hannah that we saw in season one, we were able to tell her story fully and she didn't really come back in the same capacity or sort of as the same Hannah," she recently told W Magazine. "It's a different Hannah that you see in season two."
There are also set to be a number of new faces, both young and established actors. Tony Award-winning Kelli O'Hara makes her show debut as anti-bullying campaigner Jackie, with at least 10 other actors confirmed to be joining the series.
New cast member Anne Winters – who'll play a new high school 'It' girl named Chloe in season two of the Netflix drama – has said we should “expect A LOT more answers” ahead. She along with fellow new character Scott Reed is one of the most intriguing new characters, as she is introduced as Bryce's boyfriend.
Given what we know about Bryce from season one, Chloe is set to be a very divisive character.
Speaking to Flare, actress Winters said, “The people [in the show] who are doing wrong maybe don’t even understand that it is wrong... this season will explore a little of those grey areas—it’s not as black and white as last season—so that when people raise the question of, 'Well wasn’t it her fault that she did this or that?'. This season shows a different take on it. You’ll have a lot more answers this season on why people are doing what they’re doing.”
What could happen in 13 Reasons Why season 2 (no spoilers)?
https://twitter.com/streaming/netflix/status/862062010225131521
"No more tapes" – yep, those retro cassette tapes are no more. Apparently there will be "a new piece of technology for 13-year-olds to Google".
The recent teaser and season two synopsis confirmed that that "new piece of technology" will be Polaroid cameras and photography. Check out the trailer above and the new video below.
UPDATE: creator Brian Yorkey and star Dylan Minnette have been speaking about what season two holds, and how Hannah Baker's "whole story" has still not been told. Read more
Season two will continue to explore many of the characters' issues that fans had only just begun to understand at the end of season one.
The series is also set to make some bold new changes to how it depicts the story. For an example of what to expect, find out more about the unique opening scene to season two episode seven.
Netflix has released an official synopsis for season two, teasing a "sickening secret" that is uncovered through a series of Polaroid photos.
Season two picks up in the aftermath of Hannah's death and the start of our characters' complicated journeys toward healing and recovery. Liberty High prepares to go on trial, but someone will stop at nothing to keep the truth surrounding Hannah's death concealed. A series of ominous polaroids lead Clay and his classmates to uncover a sickening secret and a conspiracy to cover it up
Star Dylan Minnette told Yahoo that the action will begin "a couple months after season one, and there's a lot that's happened to Clay in between."
Meanwhile, showrunner Brian Yorkey says that he knew very early on that the story could not end with the tapes at the end of season one.
"We realised at a certain point that we would end season one with a young woman who was just beginning to come to terms with the fact that she was a victim of sexual assault; with a young man who was suffering from severe social isolation and thinking of making a pretty tragic choice in response to that; with a character, Clay, who was really just beginning to grieve a girl that he loved and to understand what that grieving process was; and a whole community that had been traumatised in a number of specific ways, most centrally by Hannah's suicide," Yorkey said at a recent panel to discuss the show. "In a way it felt that to leave them there would be unfair to the characters and also to the viewers who really had come to care about them."
He said that Jessica's storyline in particular would be explored more in the new episodes.
"Jessica in particular, her experience continues to be a central part of season two. We wanted very much to look at her recovery. To look at what it is to go from being a victim of sexual assault to being a survivor of sexual assault," he added.
Mr Porter meanwhile, the school counsellor who questions Hannah’s account of her sexual assault in the days leading up to her suicide, will face the repercussions of his actions.
“Mr. Porter, in particular, will be coming to terms with the mistakes that he made, with the ways that he let her down, and will be, I think, very determined not to let any kids down in the future,” he said.
“In fact, I think that his story is, I think, one of the most sort of compelling to me in season two. And we’ll see a man who is determined to reach every kid who needs to be reached and help every kid who needs to be helped. Whatever it takes.”
There were plenty of unanswered questions at the end of season one, and with season two picking up where the last episode left off, it's probably worth reminding yourself of some of those cliffhanger moments below.
