Starz Renews Hightown for Second Season!

After receiving strong reviews from critics and setting a new record for series premiere viewership across their various global platforms, Starz has chosen to greenlight a second season of the Monica Raymund-led crime thriller Hightown.

Hightown was the best performing series premiere across the Starz App and other platforms to date, doubling the previous series high in addition to its 1.45M linear viewers, with the premiere also ranked as the No. 1 or No. 2 most-watched episode based on first title streamed across the international footprint on the Starz Play App.

“Rebecca, Gary and Jerry delivered an elevated and well-executed drama that embodies all the hallmarks of a Starz premium series with its dynamic, edgy storytelling, multicultural cast and female leadership both in front of and behind the camera,” Christina Davis, president of original programming, said in a statement. “Audiences are already deeply engaged with these flawed and complex characters and in a second season we will continue to dive deeper into the relationships between them amidst the shifting tides on the Cape.”

Hightown is set on iconic Cape Cod and follows one woman’s journey to sobriety, intertwined with an unfolding murder investigation. Jackie Quiñones (Monica Raymund), a hard-partying National Marine Fisheries Service agent, has her free-wheeling life thrown into disarray when she discovers a body on the beach – another casualty of Cape Cod’s opioid epidemic. As a result of this trauma, Jackie takes the first steps toward becoming sober— until she becomes convinced that it’s up to her to solve the murder. Now at odds with Sergeant Ray Abruzzo (James Badge Dale), an abrasive but effective member of the Cape Cod Interagency Narcotics Unit, Jackie starts to spiral. And she’s not alone. Ray, too, spins out of control; losing himself in the investigation. The lives of everyone connected to this murder crash and converge, reminding us just how complicated – and deadly – our addictions can be.

The series stars Monica Raymund (Chicago Fire), James Badge Dale (Only the Brave), Riley Voelkel (Roswell, New Mexico), Shane Harper (Code Black), Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break), Atkins Estimond (The Resident), and Dohn Norwood (Mindhunter).

Hightown is created and executive produced by Rebecca Cutter (Gotham) with Gary Lennon (Power, Euphoria) executive producing with Jerry Bruckheimer (Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Top Gun: Maverick), Jonathan Littman (Lucifer, CSI franchise), and KristieAnne Reed (Lucifer, L.A.’s Finest) from Jerry Bruckheimer TV, and Ellen H. Schwartz. Oscar-nominated cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Black Panther, Fruitvale Station) directed the first two episodes of the series.

New episodes of the first season air every Sunday night until the season finale on July 12.