The Queen's Gambit director, Scott Frank, has ruled out a second series of the hit Netflix show. The show, based on a 1983 book of the same name, followed Anna Taylor-Joy's orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon as she rises through the chess world while dealing with drug and alcohol dependencies. Taking place the 1950s and 1960s, it also starred Harry Melling and Thomas Brodie-Sangster. Released in October last year, it became Netflix's most watched miniseries.
The show was also a critical success, underlined by its success at last night's Primetime Emmy Awards. Director and showrunner Scott Frank won for Oustanding Directing for a Limited Series or Movie. The prizes didn't end there: It it also beat off stiff competition, from shows including WandaVision, I May Destroy You and The Underground Railroad, to win Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Only The Crown, picking up seven awards, won more for Netflix's awards cabinet. With commercial and critical success, a second season may have therefore seemed inevitable.
Speaking to Deadline, however, with an Emmy clutched in each hand, showrunner Frank put to rest any hopes of a second season. Though he was "sorry to disappoint anyone", he believed that they had "told the story they wanted to tell". He clarified that he was "terrified" that if they continued, they would "ruin what we've already told". You can read the full quote below:
"I'm so sorry. I hate disappointing anyone, but no. I feel like we told the story we wanted to tell, and I worry — let me put it differently — I’m terrified that if we try to tell more, we would ruin what we’ve already told."
The news will come as a disappointment to the show's many fans, and perhaps also to star Anna Taylor-Joy, who previously said that she would jump at the chance to work with The Queen's Gambit team again, something that was underlined by Executive Producer William Horberg after the show last night. But this wouldn't be the first time a successful streaming show is going out on a high after just one season. Damon Lindelof, writer and showrunner for last year's Outstanding Limited Series winner, Watchmen, also felt that he had told the story he wanted to tell in a single season, and decided to leave on a high.
Not everyone is such a fan of the show, however. Real-life women's chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili, who is mentioned in the show's final episode as never having faced male chess players, is suing the Netflix show for defamation: in fact, Gaprindashvili often played male opponents. But while fans won't be pleased by the show's one-season-and-out approach, they can take heart though Taylor-Joy's Beth won't be seen at the chessboard again, the same writing, directing and acting team could work together again, albeit on a new story. While the show may be finished on the small screen, fans will be able to see Harmon return off-screen, as a broadway musical adaptation of The Queen's Gambit is in development.
Source: Deadline