Last Updated: February 23, 2020
Netflix's French horror series Marianne ends with a chilling cliffhanger, but unfortunately, there won't be a season 2. Created and directed by Samuel Bodin, the 8-episode first season of Marianne dropped in September 2019, and was written by Bodin and Quoc Dang Tran.
French actress Victoire Du Bois (Call Me by Your Name) stars in Marianne as horror novelist Emma Larsimon, who achieved fame and success by writing about her nightmares of an evil witch called Marianne. The past comes back to haunt Emma, literally and figuratively, and the season 1 finale suggests that there's more darkness still to come. Marianne season 1 consists of eight episodes, and the horror series features Lucie Boujenah (24 Days), Tiphaine Daviot (Netflix’s Black Spot), and Ralph Amoussou (Missions) in supporting roles.
Word of mouth has helped Marianne to become popular even outside of French-speaking countries, with horror fans always eager to find something new and scary to watch. With season 1's story wrapped up but clear potential for the story to continue, it's truly a shame that Marianne season 2 isn't happening.
Marianne Season 2 Isn't Happening
Despite receiving rave reviews from horror circles, Netflix opted not to renew Marianne for season 2. Marianne was officially canceled after a single 8-episode season in late January 2020. No reason for the cancellation decision has been offered, but one assumes Marianne's viewership didn't reach the levels Netflix was hoping for. Still, this won't help the perception many have that Netflix cancels its original series too quickly.
What Marianne's Season 2 Story Could've Been
Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Marianne season 1.
Marianne season 1 ends with numerous problems for Emma. First, she raises Marianne from her grave and meets a meets a more humanized version, who aggressively urges the writer to travel to the coast with her. “The writer and the witch, it has been written for a long time,” Marianne says, “We need to see the dark man.” With some help from her old friend Aurore, Emma finds the strength to reject Marianne’s offer, and a priest sacrifices his own life to burn Marianne's remains, finally putting the evil witch to rest.
As Emma gets ready to leave Elden, however, she gets a nasty surprise. She visits old flame Séby, wanting to get closure on a one night stand that they had, only for Séby to tell her that they've never slept together. The man she spent the night with was actually Marianne's demon husband, Beleth, disguised as Séby. Emma takes a pregnancy test, which comes back positive, implying that she's been impregnated with some kind of unholy spawn. Marianne season 2 would've presumably seen Emma contending with a Rosemary's Baby-like situation, figuring out what to do about her half-demon baby.