At the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour today, Showtime made numerous announcements, including Your Honor Season 2, comedy series The Wood, Flatbush Misdemeanors Season 2, Desus & Mero Season 4, the Yellowjackets premiere date (watch the trailer below!), and more.
The announcements below were made by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc. Read on to learn more about each title!
YOUR HONOR SEASON 2
After breaking network viewership records with its debut, Showtime has picked up Your Honor Season 2 starring Oscar nominee and Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Tony Award-winner Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) in his performance as Michael Desiato, a respected New Orleans judge whose teenage son is involved in a hit-and-run that leads to a high-stakes game of lies, deceit and impossible choices.
BAFTA winner Peter Moffat (The Night Of, Undercover) serves as showrunner, executive producer and writer of multiple episodes. Premiering as a limited series, the first season of Your Honor was the most-watched debut season on Showtime ever (6.6 million weekly viewers) and is currently the network’s most-watched series.
Production on 10 episodes for the upcoming season is scheduled to resume next year for a 2022 return to the network. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine and Jana Winograde, Presidents of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.
“We were blown away by Your Honor… by the power of Peter’s storytelling, by the depth of Bryan’s performance, and by the overwhelming reaction from our subscribers who watched in record numbers,” said Levine. “Imagine our delight when we learned that Peter believed he had more story to tell and Bryan felt he had more depths to plumb. So, along with its millions of fans, I am gleefully shouting ‘Encore!’”
In addition to Moffat, the series is executive produced by Emmy nominees Robert and Michelle King (The Good Fight, The Good Wife, Evil) and Liz Glotzer (Evil, The Good Fight). Emmy-winning producer Cranston and Emmy-nominated producer James Degus (All the Way) executive produce the series for Moonshot Entertainment.
Season one starred SAG Award winner Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) as Jimmy Baxter, the much-feared head of a crime family opposite Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Hope Davis (Love Life, American Crime) as his wife, Gina, who might be even more dangerous than her husband.
The first season of the series also starred Hunter Doohan (Truth Be Told), Carmen Ejogo (Selma), Isiah Whitlock Jr. (The Wire), and Sofia Black-D’Elia (The Night Of) and guest starred Maura Tierney (The Affair), Amy Landecker (Transparent), Emmy winner Margo Martindale (The Americans), Lorraine Toussaint (Orange Is the New Black), Benjamin Flores Jr. (The Haunted Hathaways), Chet Hanks (Empire), Lamar Johnson (The Hate You Give) and Lilli Kay (Chambers).
Your Honor Season 2, produced by CBS Studios in association with KingSize Productions, is based on the Israeli series Kvodo created by Ron Ninio and Shlomo Mashiach. Rob Golenberg, Alon Aranya, Ninio, Mashiach, Ram Landes, Ron Eilon and Danna Stern also serve as executive producers.
THE WOOD
Showtime has announced a pilot order for the comedy series The Wood, based on the feature film written and directed by Rick Famuyiwa (The Chi, Dope). Famuyiwa will direct the pilot and executive produce with Justin Hillian (The Chi, Snowfall), who will write the script. The project is a production of Paramount Television Studios.
The Wood is an honest look at friendship and dating from the perspective of three young Black males born and raised in the gentrifying L.A. suburb of Inglewood, fondly referred to by locals as the City Of Champions. The trio’s struggles to balance fatherhood, ambition and loyalty force them to question if they are growing apart… or closer together.
With a knowing nod back to the characters of the 1999 film on which it is based, this romantic comedy showcases the humor and heart of young Black men and women trying to navigate life, love and likes on the ’Gram.
The Wood is executive produced by Justin Hillian, Rick Famuyiwa, David Gale and Van Toffler.
FLATBUSH MISDEMEANORS SEASON 2
Showtime has picked up a second season of its half-hour comedy series Flatbush Misdemeanors. Created by Kevin Iso (High Fidelity) and Dan Perlman (That’s My Bus!), who both star, Flatbush Misdemeanors is a raw comedy of city life following Dan and Kevin, who play characters struggling to thrive in their new surroundings in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The show explores two long-time friends seeking to climb out of their heads and connect with others. Season one cast also includes Kristin Dodson (The Shivering Truth), Hassan Johnson (The Wire), Kareem Green and Kerry Coddett.
Flatbush Misdemeanors is an adaptation of Iso and Perlman’s digital series of the same name. For their work writing, directing and starring in the shorts that form the foundation of the series, Iso and Perlman won Best North American Short Film at the London Film Festival, with the first installment becoming Oscar qualified following a Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at the Florida Film Festival.
Flatbush Misdemeanors is a co-production by Showtime and Avalon (Breeders, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Starstruck), which will continue to act as lead studio. The series is executive produced by Perlman and Iso, with Richard Allen-Turner, Jon Thoday, David Martin and Chloe Pisello for Avalon.
DESUS & MERO SEASON 4
Showtime also announced that Desus & Mero, the network’s first-ever late night talk show, will return for a fourth season in 2022. Currently in its third season, Desus & Mero airs weekly on Sunday and Thursday nights at 11 p.m. ET/PT from New York City through December 12.
Each episode of Desus & Mero, which won a WGA Award earlier this year for Comedy/Variety Talk Series, features co-hosts Desus Nice and The Kid Mero giving their take on the day’s hot topics and chatting with guests at the intersection of pop culture, sports, music, politics and more, with recent guests including President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Lil Nas X, Matt Damon, YoYo Ma, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Eddie Murphy, Idris Elba, H.E.R. and Glenn Close.
Produced for Showtime by JAX Media, Desus & Mero is executive produced by Desus Nice, The Kid Mero, Lilly Burns, Tony Hernandez, Victor Lopez, Suzanne Fagel and Mike Pielocik.
RETURN OF THE TALIBAN: A VICE SPECIAL REPORT
Showtime announced today that the Peabody Award-winner and two-time Emmy-nominated documentary series VICE will premiere Return of the Taliban: A VICE Special Report, a one-hour special on the current Taliban takeover in Afghanistan on Friday, September 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Acclaimed VICE correspondents Hind Hassan, Ben Soloman, Seb Walker and Isobel Yeung will report from the ground in Afghanistan and surrounding areas – including exclusive footage and interviews captured before and after the takeover – and provide a deeper look at the militant group that seized control of the country in 11 days, following the U.S. military withdrawal.
Return of the Taliban: A VICE Special Report, will be followed by the Showtime Documentary Films premiere of DETAINEE 001, which unpacks the mysteries surrounding John Walker Lindh, the young American found on the battlefield in Afghanistan alongside the people who were supposed to be his enemy. Revealing how society views the “enemy from within” and the shifting allegiances during the war on terror, DETAINEE 001 will debut on Showtime on Friday, September 10 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
Later this fall, VICE will return to air the remaining seven episodes of its second season. The half-hour episodes relentlessly pursue untold stories of social justice, civil rights and identity, tackling complex geopolitical stories from remote parts of the globe. The VICE reporting team includes a diverse group of award-winning journalists, including Hind Hassan, David Noriega, Alzo Slade, Ben Solomon, Paola Ramos, Gianna Toboni, Krishna Andavolu, Seb Walker and Isobel Yeung.
Produced by VICE News, Beverly Chase is the executive producer and showrunner for VICE. Craig Thomson is co-executive producer, and Subrata De is the senior executive producer for the series and EVP of VICE News. Jesse Angelo is President of Global News and Entertainment, VICE Media Group.
YELLOWJACKETS
Showtime will premiere its new survival drama Yellowjackets on Sunday, November 14 at 10 pm ET/PT. Created and executive produced by Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson (Narcos), the 10-episode, one-hour drama series starring Melanie Lynskey (Castle Rock), Oscar and Emmy nominee Juliette Lewis (Camping), Emmy nominee Christina Ricci (Z: The Beginning of Everything) and Tawny Cypress (Unforgettable) is currently in production in Vancouver.
Equal parts survival epic, psychological horror story and coming-of-age drama, Yellowjackets is the saga of a team of wildly talented high school girls soccer players who become the (un)lucky survivors of a plane crash deep in the remote northern wilderness. The series chronicles their descent from a complicated but thriving team to savage clans, while also tracking the lives they’ve attempted to piece back together nearly 25 years later, proving that the past is never really past and what began out in the wilderness is far from over.
The series also stars Ella Purnell (Sweetbitter), Samantha Hanratty (Shameless), Sophie Thatcher (Prospect), Sophie Nélisse (The Book Thief), Steven Krueger (The Originals), Jasmin Savoy Brown (The Leftovers) and Warren Kole (Shades of Blue).
Produced for Showtime by studio Entertainment One (eOne), Jonathan Lisco (Animal Kingdom, Halt and Catch Fire) joins Lyle and Nickerson as executive producer and showrunning partner. Karyn Kusama (Destroyer, Girlfight) executive produces and directed the pilot. Drew Comins of Creative Engine also serves as executive producer.
