Who Is 13 Reasons Why Season 2's New Narrator?

13 Reasons Why season 2 doesn't have a release date yet, and neither do we have confirmation of who the show's new narrator is. Season 1 arrived over a year ago, and filming wrapped on the second run some time back. Amid rumors of re-edits and delayed release dates for 13 Reasons Why Season 2, the exact plot for the new episodes is still not totally clear.

We do know, however, that while the show will look at Hannah Baker's story from other angles, she will not be the main focus. Hannah was the narrator for season 1; the tapes that she recorded before committing suicide were the 13 reasons as to why she took her own life.

This time, we know there will be a new narrator, and possibly another form of media used to continue the story, but who could it be? 13 Reasons Why season 2 needs to pick up with a lot of characters who are all struggling with their own issues. As hype for the series grows, we take a look at possible candidates for the narrator's role.

This Page: Jessica Davis, Clay Jensen or Bryce Walker

Jessica Davis

Jessica looking behind her on 13 Reasons Why

At the end of 13 Reasons Why season 1, Jessica had just found enough courage to tell her dad about her rape ordeal. Throughout the course of the season, we watched a promising, popular cheerleader with good grades and college prospects slowly unravel. At times, through Hannah Baker's eyes, Jessica seemed cruel and cold-hearted, but the reality was that a group of jocks took her happiness as a sign she was up for anything. Bryce raped her, while she was unconscious, and when Justin revealed that fact to her, unsurprisingly Jessica couldn't cope.

Jessica would be an ideal narrator for season 2; it would give us a chance to follow her progress as she recovers from her ordeal and works through her issues with the help of her parents. We'd also get to hear more of how she viewed Hannah and their friendship, and how she felt, being perceived as a good time girl.

Clay Jensen

Throughout season 1, Clay was always the good guy with a conscience. He made mistakes, but overall was a likeable character and someone who was deeply affected by the death of Hannah - a girl he liked a lot, but for whom he never really found the courage to admit his feelings. Like many teenagers of his age, Clay was confused and conflicted, wanting to be with the 'in crowd' but also wanting to please his parents, work hard in school, and find himself a nice girlfriend.

Clay would be an obvious and rather safe choice as narrator for 13 Reasons Why's second season. In season 1, the character served as a good vehicle for the viewers to watch Hannah's story through the eyes of a regular teenager, but Clay doesn't really have a strong or compelling enough story for us to want to follow him more in season 2.

Bryce Walker

Bryce was the bully of season 1. The elite athlete, star of all the sports teams and adored by his peers, Bryce also had money, good looks, and power on his side. He also, sadly, assumed that meant he could do whatever he wanted and treat people however he chose, without consequence. Bryce aggressively bullied many people into doing things - whether it was getting Clay to drink beer, Justin to lie and say that he had sex with Hannah in a park, or raping both Jessica and Hannah, Bryce assumed he couldn't be touched.

Thankfully, Clay had a strong moral compass, and ended up taping a confession from Bryce. With Hannah's tapes and Bryce's admission that he raped both girls, it seems that the jock won't be able to escape some kind of repercussion now. It would be interesting to have Bryce as the narrator of 13 Reasons Why, but it would be a very difficult angle for the writers to take. It's hard to elicit any kind of sympathy for a character like that, and after the huge controversy surrounding season one, it would be an unnecessarily antagonistic choice for the show to make a rapist the main storyteller of season 2.

Tony Padilla

Tony was something of an enigma in 13 Reasons Why, but that didn't stop viewers taking a strong liking to him. He easily became one of the most popular characters, based mainly on the fact that he was a continual voice of reason in a world of chaos and misunderstanding. We know Hannah trusted Tony enough to leave her tapes in his care; she knew that he would take his responsibility seriously and ensure that the tapes were passed along. Tony also had a darker side, though. Clay saw him fighting, and he's also deliberately elusive when the subject of his family is raised. We're also in the dark as to how he and Hannah became so close.

To make Tony the narrator in season 2 would be an obvious choice, but not necessarily a bad one. It would certainly be interesting to hear Hannah's story from his perspective, since he seems to be everywhere at all times. But Tony is not, as far as we know, involved with other characters who all have major issues as we enter season 2, and so it would be hard to see how the writers could work those two narratives together.

Alex Standall

Alex looking off camera on 13 Reasons Why

Alex featured heavily in Hannah's story, and was the subject of one of her tapes, Alex had been a close friend of hers, along with Jessica. He then began dating Jessica, which led to tension between her and Hannah and, when Jessica refused to have sex with him, Alex listed Hannah as having a 'nice ass.' The list got spread around school, and Jessica took this to mean Alex had slept with Hannah behind his back. During season 1, we watched Alex attempt to integrate into Bryce's 'jock' gang, but he never really found his place there. Clearly struggling, at the end of the season Alex was rushed to hospital having been shot - and we're led to assume it was a failed suicide attempt.

If Hannah can narrate season 1 from beyond the grave, then surely Alex could narrate season 2 from a coma? This would give viewers an insight into the mindset of someone battling mental health issues including depression, and an insight into why he tried to end his life. It would also give Hannah's story from another standpoint, as well as showing us the repercussions of her parents' lawsuit against the school and the depositions that were served on some of the students. However, Alex as the narrator would also be a similar choice to Hannah in season 1.

Tyler Down

Tyler was also the subject of one of Hannah's tapes. He stalked her and Courtney, took photos of them kissing and spread them around school. Although no one discovered who was in the pictures, the emotional damage was done to both girls, and Hannah lost yet another friend. As it turned out, Tyler, a social misfit who struggled to know how to interact, liked Hannah and asked her to hang out, but she laughed in his face. As an act of revenge against Tyler, Clay took a naked photo of him and spread it around, while other students had thrown rocks at his bedroom window. For as much as he tried to be a part of the group, Tyler was constantly dismissed as a weirdo with a camera who stalked people. At the end of season 1, he was heading into school with a backpack full of guns, seemingly planning a school shooting.

Rumors are circulating that 13 Reasons Why did have a school shooting in it, but given the recent Parkland shooting, the show has now been reedited to leave it out. It remains to be seen exactly what Tyler was planning, and whether he went through with it, but it would give a very different angle to season 2 if the story was told from his perspective. Why did he feel like that was the only option? How has he dealt with the constant rejection from his peers? Is this the only way he felt people would finally listen? How did Hannah and Clay's actions affect someone who was already emotionally vulnerable? There are so many questions regarding Tyler- including how he viewed Hannah, and viewers will be wanting answers.

13 Reasons Why season one focused on old fashioned tapes to tell Hannah's story, and with Tyler as the narrator, it could be his photographs - painstakingly hand-developed in an old-school dark room - that could tell his. Fans will recall how Tyler had photos of various students hanging up in the dark room, and he took a photo of Alex down. We have yet to learn the significance of that. Did he decide Alex would be spared from his rampage for some reason? Or was Tyler actually the one to shoot Alex, and the taking down of his picture was representative of his attempted murder? While there are many possible candidates for the role of narrator in 13 Reasons Why season 2, Tyler Down would definitely be the most compelling.