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13 Reasons Why Season 2 Will Focus on Sexual Assault and the Aftermath of Hannah's Death

07/05/2018 - 01:15 PM

Netflix officially renewed 13 Reasons Why [1] for a second season back in May 2017, and shortly after the announcement, information concerning season two began to trickle out bit by bit. Sure, we had our theories about how it will go forward [2], from a season taking place at another school to one revolving around Alex's perspective [3]. Now, thanks to the recently released trailer [4] that's jam-packed with telling clues [5], we finally have a concrete idea about where the teen drama is about to take us.

Season two will consist of 13 episodes, just like the first season, and this time around, it will pick up soon after where season one leaves off [6], delving deeper into the court case that's sparked by the suicide of Hannah Baker [7] (Katherine Langford). According to Netflix, season two will begin "in the aftermath of Hannah Baker's death and the start of the characters' complicated journeys toward healing and recovery." Executive producer Selena Gomez also posted a teaser following the show's renewal last year with the caption, "Their story isn't over." Before the renewal news was even confirmed, creator Brian Yorkey told The Hollywood Reporter, "Hannah's story is still very much not finished [8]. She's an integral part of whatever the next chapter of the story is, and she's very much still at the centre of it."

The season two trailer also hints at another dangerous saga that will unfold for characters who are set to testify in the case between Hannah's grieving parents and the school that failed her. Jessica, Mr. Porter, Clay, and even Hannah's mother, Olivia, are being sent threatening notes ("You talk, you pay," "Liar," "Know your place"), and since they're all intimately aware of what Hannah was going through before she took her own life, we can only assume that the person (or people) writing the notes is/are doing so in service of either the school or Hannah's rapist, Bryce.

Speaking of Bryce, who's played by Glee's Justin Prentice [10], the trailer also gives us an inkling of what he's been up to. He's sitting next to new character Chloe (Anne Winters) [11] at a party and can be seen pouring her a drink that makes her pass out. Given Bryce's history, it doesn't take a genius to know what's going to happen there.

What's even more telling is that we know Bryce's mother will be around in season two [12] as well. Couple that with what Yorkey recently told The Hollywood Reporter [13] about season two's focus on serial sexual assault, and a narrative emerges: Bryce is still viciously assaulting his female classmates, but hopefully he's going to pay for his actions.

"We look at the ways that sexual assault has been perpetrated over a number of years and has been in fact documented, and also the ways in which the institutions — the athletic department, the high school itself — are in some ways complicit in letting that happen," Yorkey explained. "When we first developed it, we had these discussions about whether it was realistic to think that serial sexual abuse could be kept secret by so many people for so long. Over the course of the Summer, we watched events unfold in our culture that confirmed to us that yes, unfortunately, it is possible for severe sexual abuse at a very high, consistent level to be kept secret by many, many people and for institutions to be complicit in it. So that's very much a part of our story in season two and we're hoping that enters the conversation around the show, particularly because it is something that girls even at a very young age are dealing with in our culture and it's something that needs to change."

Since season two premieres on May 18 [15], we luckily don't have long to wait too long until we get to see all of these ideas play out. In the meantime, you can refer to Netflix's cheat sheet, which it shared almost a year ago.

What we know about @13ReasonsWhy [16] season 2 — so far pic.twitter.com/PMUaIe6Zy8 [17]

— Netflix US (@netflix) May 9, 2017 [18]


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