Apple has confirmed that it has greenlit second seasons of three of its TV+ original series: the Jason Momoa-starrer post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama See, the Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore’s Joel Kinnaman-starrer alt-history sci-fi drama For All Mankind, and the Hailee Steinfeld-starrer historical coming-of-age comedy Dickinson. That means all of its launch adult-oriented dramas — the Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon-starrer newsroom drama The Morning Show was announced with a two-season order — will return for sophomore year.
Two of those Apple TV+ original series — See and Dickinson — were reported to be returning in October, with The Hollywood Reporter claiming that production had already begun on the second season of the latter in New York, while the former had been quietly renewed months ago as well. An Apple spokeswoman confirmed the fates of those shows to THR on Thursday, alongside For All Mankind, which THR says has been renewed for “additional seasons”. Emphasis ours to note that the space race series has its future secure beyond the upcoming second season.
It’s interesting that Apple has decided to make more of all four shows — See, For All Mankind, Dickinson, and The Morning Show — when reviews have either been middling, not kind, or terrible. For All Mankind and Dickinson are the best served of lot, with a respective 72 and 71 percent “fresh” rating on reviews aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and a favourable 65 and 67 score on reviews aggregator Metacritic, respectively. The Morning Show has a 62 percent (barely) “fresh” rating on RT, and a mixed 60 score on Metacritic. And See is the worst, with a 41 percent “rotten” rating on RT, and an unfavourable 37 score on Metacritic.
Of course, just like every other streaming service, Apple TV+ won’t disclose viewership figures unless it suits its narrative. People familiar with the matter told THR that Apple TV+ drew “millions” of viewers over launch weekend; all that means is it’s more than 1.99 million. Average time spent was “well over an hour”, which is close to the length of a single episode, mind you.
Next for Apple TV+ are the M. Night Shyamalan-directed psychological thriller Servant on November 28, and the Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul, and Lizzy Caplan-starrer legal drama Truth Be Told on December 6; the Minhal Baig-directed Muslim coming-of-age movie Hala sometime in December; and the Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Mackie-starrer drama The Banker out January 31, 2020.