Taboo, a 2017 BBC drama starring Tom Hardy, has suddenly broken into the Netflix UK's Top 10 — and new fans are eager for a season 2. Fortunately, Hardy and showrunner Steven Knight haven't forgotten.
Created by Hardy, his father Chips Hardy, and Peaky Blinders showrunner Knight, the show follows an 1814 adventurer named James Delaney who's long been presumed dead. He returns home to London from Africa with the intention of inheriting his late father's shipping empire, but all is not what it seems. Delaney encounters a slew of enemies – some new and some old – and vows to avenge his father's death, no matter the cost.
Though the show was renewed four years ago, momentum died down and few updates have been released. Knight told Collider that "six of the eight [episodes] are written," and that the team is "trying to get stars aligned so that we can get our star [Hardy] back on set."
Hardy himself has several ideas for season two, telling Esquire that the new season is "really, really important" to him and that it's "taken a lot of thinking, because I really enjoyed the first one and I want to be really fulfilled by the second one."
"We're still playing with ideas: you could go linear, a continuation of time, or we could drop prior to London, or we could quantum-leap through time!" he explained. "I don't know whether to go orthodox – there’s a series of that already written – but I don't know if that’s the right way to go."
DeKnight predicts that the earliest filming would begin is "early 2023," given Hardy's increasingly busy schedule. The actor can be seen next in Havoc, an upcoming British-American action thriller written and directed by Gareth Evans.
Taboo is currently streaming on Netflix in the UK, but American viewers can watch season one on Hulu. For more dramas and period pieces, check out our list of the best TV shows of all time.
