If you've just finished bingeing all eight episodes of Netflix's new sci-fi thriller The Boroughs, you probably have a few questions. What's going on with that ending? Is this a show about time travel, aliens or both? And, crucially, when will we get The Boroughs season 2?
Executive produced by the Duffer Brothers, who made Stranger Things one Netflix's most successful shows of all time, The Boroughs packages up that same eerie spirit in a new context. Instead of a gang of teenagers in the ‘80s, we’re transported to a present-day retirement community. There's no Upside Down, but there are plenty of bizarre supernatural events, mostly thanks to a creature called Mother, who seems a little less malevolent than the forces the Stranger Things kids were up against. That said, her impact on the elderly residents of the titular Boroughs is catastrophic. Time to do something about it…
After launching on Netflix last week, The Boroughs has quickly filled the sci-fi void in our TV diets. But like Mother, we need more. Here's everything we know about if, when and how we'll get a new season.
Has The Boroughs been renewed for season 2?
Alas, at the time of writing, there's been no official announcement from Netflix as to whether we'll get a second season. But fear not: these decisions take a while to marinate before they're confirmed and The Boroughs is already in a strong position for a renewal.
Why? First and foremost, it's executive produced by The Duffer Brothers, who have more than proved themselves as able to deliver a hit. (Hello, Stranger Things and Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen?) And although The Borough's streaming numbers haven't reached record levels just yet – boasting a respectable but comparatively low 5.6 million viewers in its first week – it has worked its way up to number one on the UK Netflix chart, so all hope is not lost. It could just be a summer slow-burner.
What have the creators said about The Boroughs season 2?
They are very much prepared for it. If you've watched all of season one, you'll know that the finale absolutely set things up for the story to continue – and that was 100 per cent intentional. Speaking to IGN, the show's creators, Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews, explained their thought process behind that final episode. (Now's the time to look away if you're avoiding spoilers.)
“We have ideas for season two [and] know where [it] goes," said Addiss, before hinting that the second season will build on a specific scene in the last episode, where the character Sam's reflection glitches in a mirror. "It builds directly off that moment, and nothing about that shot was done idly,” he continued. “It was a tip of the cap to where we want to go, which means we can't give away what it means, because that's going to be the fun – knock on wood – should we get a second season.”
What might happen in The Boroughs season 2?
Again, spoilers ahead! To figure out how the story might continue, it makes sense to recap season one's ending. The final episode of The Boroughs was dramatic, to say the least. It turns out that the monster we mentioned earlier, Mother, actually wants to die, after being kept alive by the retirement community's CEO, Blaine, who's been drinking her blood to stay young. But resident Sam, the show's main protagonist, helps Mother to achieve her wish, driving her to the Cave of Wonders where she's able to die surrounded by her children.
As a thank you, Mother somehow transports Sam back in time, where he's able to share one last dance with his late wife, Lilly. It's a tender moment, but it doesn't last forever. In the final scene, we see Sam tending to a head wound in the bathroom mirror, when his reflection spookily glitches.
This, of course, isn't the first time we've seen glitching throughout the series. It's happened when Sam's previously had visions of his wife, and during Blaine's dream in episode five. The good news: we do have a bit of clarity on what the glitching means. “Mother puts out a signal, a sort of SOS, and that message gets picked up by people who are sensitive to it,” Addiss told TUDUM. “Mother is transmitting a signal, and that’s why we played with the idea of old TVs and this idea of transmission. There’s something happening, something going through the air.”
But that begs the question: if Sam's reflection is glitching after Mother's death, is she still alive? Or is Sam trapped in the past? Some fans have even speculated that Mother might have transferred some of her powers to Sam, or that there's another entity at work that's yet to be discovered. In any case, we can pretty confident that season two will explore the glitching concept further.
To get answers to all of our questions, though, we'll probably have to wait even longer – like, two-more-seasons longer. Not necessarily a bad thing, but it does require patience from fans. In that same IGN interview, Addiss eplained that “We have a very specific three-season plan, and we think we know the last shot of the last scene of the last episode.” How's that for forward planning?
“We have the answers to all the questions, and a plan of how and when to answer those," he continued. "We wanted season one to feel emotionally complete, but leave some questions unanswered. We really wanted [you] to feel like you got a full story, in case that's all we get. If it’s a success, we'd like to tell you a bit more about what's going on. What is Mother? We know the answer to that. We want to tell you, so hopefully people watch so we get that chance.”
