Will there be a second season of Devs? What will it be about?
Everything you need to know about a potential second series of Alex Garland's ambitious sci-fi show
Alex Garland's ambitious sci-fi series Devs has been airing on BBC Two in recent weeks, with many viewers captivated by the intelligent story and arresting visuals.
And although there are still a fair few installments yet to be broadcast, some fans may have already binged their way through to the end - with all eight episodes already available on BBC iPlayer - and want to know if they can expect to see another chapter in the future.
Here's all we know about the possibility of a second season so far...
Has Devs been renewed for a second series?
There has been no news from Hulu - on which the series aired in the US - regarding the possibility of a second series, and although the ending of season one doesn't necessarily rule out a further run, unfortunately we reckon that another series is relatively unlikely at this stage.
Devs was always billed as a limited series, and although there are examples of shows that were originally marketed as limited series being extended further (Big Little Lies, for example) we don't imagine that will be the case here, in part because series creator Alex Garland has been vocal about his distaste for sequels in the past, when asked about the possibility of doing a follow-up to his 2018 film Annihilation.
That said, perhaps Garland wouldn't be so opposed to someone else taking on the mantle - we'll just have to wait and see...
When would a second season of Devs be released?
In the unlikely event that a second series was commissioned, it probably wouldn't hit UK TV schedules for quite some time. Even when not taking into account the current coronavirus situation, there were roughly two years between series one getting the go ahead and it's eventual airdate, and it seems probable that we could expect a similar timeframe this time round - if Garland was persuaded to do a follow up, he's not the sort to rush things.
What could the plot be of a potential second season?
While we're by no means expecting another run, it's always fun to speculate what form a hypothetical second season would take - and indeed there are a number of possibilities.
If the show were to retain its focus on the main cast of characters from season one - Lily, Jamie, Forest etc - a second series would have to take place inside the Devs system, given that the aforementioned characters are all now dead in the real world. This could certainly be an intriguing direction for the show to go in - given that only Lily and Forest are aware that they are living in a simulation, it would be interesting to watch them come to terms with this without letting anyone else know the situation.
Another possibility that has been suggested for a second series is for the show to make use of the multiple worlds theory that is a central part of series one, looking at an alternative reality in which there are significant changes in the characters' lives due to different decisions that have been made in the past. If Garland did decide to go down this road, then there would be literally infinite possibilities for future series...
Could the cast reunite on a separate Alex Garland project?
As things stand, what looks more likely than another series of Devs is an entirely new project written by Garland which would bring the cast of series one back together.
Garland has spoken about how he feels "incredibly bonded" with the cast, and told Collider in March that he "thought that it would be an interesting thing to take what theatre does, quite often, which is to have a company, and then you move around the parts within the company, and you can do a different play with the same actors, where someone who’s the lead in one is now a supporting actor.
"That’s a very interesting thing that theater does, and I think it could work in television, so I thought I’d try it."
What's more, Garland said that he'd already started writing the new project - although he admitted that it was all speculative at the moment, given that no series has been ordered and he's not yet sure if the cast will want to take on the roles he's written for them.
Garland hasn't given too much away about what any future project will look like, but he did divulge that the scripts he is working on are "really about civil disobedience" and that it would mark a turn away from the sci-fi genre, in which he has predominantly worked in recent years.
Authors
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.