13 Reasons Why showrunner Brian Yorkey has revealed the series has potential to be picked up for future seasons.
The controversial show, which deals with issues including suicide and rape, was initially picked up as a limited series adaptation of Jay Asher’s Young Adult novel of the same name.
Following the success of the first season, the team commissioned an original continuation of the story-line for a second thirteen-episode season, which is set to air on Netflix on May 18th.
Brian reveals that the second season may not be the end for 13 Reasons Why, saying it could return “year after year.”
“To me, it really does come back to character,” he tells Digital Spy.
“When we sold the show, we said… we think it could be the kind of show where you follow these characters year after year, and we also thought… we set up the show back in the heyday of True Detective on HBO, and we said we really think it could be a True Detective for teens, where every year you start with a new group and a new set of 13 reasons.
“And we sort of said, let’s make it and see how we feel. And there came a point where I said, I want to know what happens next. I don’t want to leave these characters right now and leave them hanging”.
Brian decided to continue the story of these same characters in order to show viewers how victims of trauma actually process their grief.
“American television often takes on these big issues and resolves them in the course of an episode, for the course of three episodes,” he says. “So we are trained to think oh, the story of a rape survivor, is a story of the lead up, the rape, and then the day after the rape where they sort of struggle through tears to tell someone the story.
“The fact is, recovering from rape is a lifelong proces”, he continues. “And I think that that’s something that people, maybe especially young people who haven’t gone through it, need to know, and people who have gone through it or are going through it need to know that they are not alone, and that someone understands that.
“If we are given the opportunity, which is a rare and blessed opportunity in the world of big money entertainment, but if we are given the opportunity to keep telling the story, let’s keep telling it and let’s not let these threads drop”.
13 Reasons Why Season 2 airs Friday 18th of May on Netflix.
