Sugar co-showrunner and executive producer Simon Kinberg has revealed how a potential second season of the Colin Farrell-led Apple TV+ crime drama would differ from the first, saying: “It would be an even more intimate season because he’d really be alone.”
Kinberg’s comments came during an interview with Den of Geek, in which he struck an optimistic note about Sugar Season 2: “I would start for a hope that we have a season 2,” Kinberg said. “That’s not official yet. We’re all hopeful for it and everybody loved working on this and we feel like we have a lot more story to tell with this character. Fingers crossed, we get Season 2!”
Kinberg then went on to elaborate on how Sugar Season 2 would distinguish itself from the first installment: “I think it would be an opportunity to continue Sugar to figure out where he fits into planet Earth because he was here on a mission in season 1 and he was part of a community of people like him in season 1. Now he does not have a stated mission from his community, he has the mystery of wanting to figure out his family. He does not have a mystery to solve nor a larger question about the human species to solve for his own species.”
The executive producer also shed light on how Farrell’s lead character would feel more isolated after his decision in the Sugar Season 1 finale: “The second season would really go from ‘Who are these people and who are we in relation to them’ to something a bit more personal, like ‘How do I find my place, my home, and my people down here.’ While the mystery for him would be more personal and we’d want to find a new mystery for him to solve as a detective, it would be an even more intimate season because he’d really be alone. He’d have no, at least what he thought to be, protectors down here.”
Throughout his remarks, Kinberg referred to the big twist towards the end of the first season. John Sugar (Farrell) was revealed to be one among a group of aliens sent to Earth to observe humans and learn from their errors.
What’s Sugar about?
Sugar is described as a unique take on the popular private detective story. John Sugar initially seems like an American private investigator that’s focused on the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the beloved granddaughter of legendary Hollywood producer Jonathan Siegel. But as Sugar tries to get to the bottom of what happened to Olivia, he finds other secrets and uncomfortable truths.
The series also stars Kirby (The Sandman, The Good Place, Veronica Mars), Amy Ryan (Only Murders in the Building, The Wire), James Cromwell (Succession), Anna Gunn (Breaking Bad), Dennis Boutsikaris (Better Call Saul), Nate Corddry (Mindhunter), Sydney Chandler (Don’t Worry Darling), and Alex Hernandez (Invasion).
Sugar is created by Mark Protosevich, who also executive produces. Audrey Chon and Simon Kinberg executive produce for Genre Films, marking their second series with Apple TV+ under Kinberg’s overall deal, following Invasion. Sam Catlin, Scott Greenberg and Chip Vucelich also serve as executive producers. The series was directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God, Two Popes) and Adam Arkin (The Offer), who also co-executive produce.
Sugar garnered generally positive reviews. Though largely a crime drama, the central twist of Sugar reveals that the eight-episode series fits alongside Apple TV’s other sci-fi offerings. Those include Foundation, For All Mankind, Silo, Invasion, Dark Matter, The Big Door Prize, Severance, and the recently-cancelled Constellation.
