Awesome news! Natasha Lyonne and Leslye Headland announced earlier today that ‘Russian Doll‘ is getting a second season on Netflix. Russian Doll’s official Twitter posted a video of Natasha announcing the new season.
The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the new season will have eight episodes, following the format of the first season:
The dark comedy from star Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler and Leslye Headland is getting a second season at Netflix. Following the format of season one, Russian Doll will return with eight episodes. A release date has yet to be announced.
The second season renewal was revealed by Lyonne and Netflix vp originals Cindy Holland during their joint appearance at Recode’s Code Conference Tuesday in Arizona. “Same show, just weirder,” said Lyonne. “The character is a coder so it would be appropriate to have this be the time and place to say, yes. So very much yes, I would love to do [a second season].”
After debuting Feb. 1 ahead of Groundhog Day — a fitting wink for a show that sees its protagonist reliving the same day, this time to the catchy tune of Harry Nilsson’s “Gotta Get Up” — Russian Doll became a popular source of social media chatter as Lyonne-centered memes circulated Twitter and Instagram. Russian Dollreceived rave reviews leading up to its release, though several critics noted that, given how the first season ends, Netflix should let the show live on as a limited series. THR‘s Daniel Fienberg called it a “near-total triumph, suggesting to Netflix, “There’s absolutely no need for a second season of Russian Doll. It’s good and it’s right.”
But Lyonne, Pohler and Headland actually pitched Russian Doll to Netflix as a three-season series. When speaking to THR ahead of the renewal news, both Lyonne and Headland said the creators all wanted to make more episodes. After the cathartic events of the first season finale, what exactly that second season will look like — and who will be involved on-screen — remains to be seen.
“When initially pitched, Nadia was a presence throughout all three of them. But it was not in a very conventional way,” Headland had told THR of their initial three-season vision centering around Lyonne’s character in some capacity. “She was always a presence as we knew Lyonne would always be the beating heart and soul of this show. Whether she was being haunted or she was haunting the narrative, she would be there. But we have discussed all of those things and more.”
The trio learned a lot after creating season one — including how to successfully storyboard the season by narrative “loops” instead of by episodes — and when it came to thinking about the future of the show, both Lyonne and Headland said anything is on the table.
“I think we have some ideas,” said Lyonne after the first season release. “I definitely have ideas ranging from the really kind of out there anthology to staying on board with our friend Nadia. And maybe it’s all one idea. Certainly, what we pitched as the heart and soul of Russian Doll, I’d love to continue to get to work in that way. The idea that they would conceivably follow us and on that course, should we jump off that cliff, is pretty fun to even consider the fantasy.”
