<i>The Studio</i> Got Renewed for Season 2—Here’s What We Know

Please join me and the Kool-Aid Man in a resounding “Ooohh yeahhhh!” because The Studio has been renewed for a second season. The Apple TV+ comedy starring and co-created by Seth Rogen first debuted in March to rave reviews, with critics praising its playful critiques of Hollywood and the film industry. Rogen plays Matt Remick, the exec of the fictional Continental Studios, who’s dealing with the complications of creating films in the streaming age, celebrity personalities, and the challenges of adapting IP (he’s desperately trying to get the Kool-Aid movie made). Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn, Ike Barinholtz, and Chase Sui Wonders join him in the cast.

The renewal announcement on May 6 arrived just two weeks before the season 1 finale.

“We're thrilled to be making a second season of ‘The Studio.’ We're looking forward to taking the lived experience of making season one and immediately putting it into season two, then repeating that loop for ten more seasons,” Rogen and co-creator Evan Goldberg said in a statement. “And, we’re excited to keep all our industry friends and colleagues guessing as to when one of their personal stories will stream on Apple TV+.”

Apple TV+’s head of programming, Matt Cherniss, added, “We can’t wait to see where Matt Remick takes Continental Studios in season two, and hope for his sake that the ‘Kool-Aid’ movie crushes at the box office.”

With The Studio getting the green light for another season, we can probably hope for more even celebrity cameos. Season 1 included famous faces like Martin Scorsese, Olivia Wilde, and Zoë Kravitz.

“I think it’s both so funny and smart, and also really accurate,” Kravitz told ELLE about The Studio. “I love what they’re saying about the industry and about art.”

The release date and production schedule have not been announced yet.

Apple TV+ has yet to confirm the cast, but based on the core ensemble of season 1, we’re expecting to see more of Seth Rogen (Matt), Catherine O’Hara (Patty), Kathryn Hahn (Maya), Ike Barinholtz (Sal), and Chase Sui Wonders (Quinn).

The guest stars are still unconfirmed, but we can probably expect many more cameos in season 2. In fact, Goldberg says they’ve been getting more requests after the show premiered.

“Thank goodness, tons of people are asking to be in the show and do cameos,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “That was one of the hardest parts of season one, so that’s an amazing shift. But people weren’t pitching us as many ideas as I’d expected. Now people are like, ‘Oh, this could go straight into the show.’ ”

Chase Sui Wonders, Ike Barinholtz, Brian Cranston, Seth Rogen, and Catherine O’Hara in The Studio.

While Rogen & Co. have yet to share an official logline, we can look to the season 1 finale for hints. At the end of the season, Continental Studios is at risk of being bought by Amazon, which would probably lead to Matt and his crew losing their jobs. In an attempt to prevent the sale, they hope to make a splashy presentation at CinemaCon to appear stronger than they look. The finale ends right after the presentation, which hit a few hiccups (like inebriated studio CEO Griffin Mill hanging by wires from the ceiling) but is met with resounding cheers. Was it enough to save Continental from the clutches of Big Tech? Perhaps season 2 will reveal the aftermath of CinemaCon and delve deeper into the potential Amazon sale. (I’m personally also hoping for some first footage of the Kool-Aid movie.)

In a recent interview with ELLE, Sui Wonders vaguely hinted that the next season will continue to follow this “chosen family of wackos.” She added, “Even though it’s not an overly sentimental show, I think the character development of how we’re this traveling circus family and the intricate dynamics that keep us all together in this kind of sinking ship is where we will go for season 2.”

The writers already have some hopes for where the series could go next. Peter Huyck told The Direct, “I think one thing we want to do is the big international film festival. That would be a dream to do an episode set there. We talked about it a lot last season, and we didn’t get there, so that could be a good area for [a possible] season 2 is the big International Film Festival episode.”

Added fellow writer Friday Perez, “That kind of dovetails with releasing a movie and the excitement that comes from actually releasing, going to theaters, like the day of, watching box office.”

This story will be updated.