The showrunner of the controversial hit Netflix show 13 Reasons Why has revealed a number of details about its forthcoming second season.
After attracting both acclaim and criticism for its 13-episode first season – with some accusations of its alleged ‘glamourisation’ of teenage suicide and mental health issues – executive producer Selena Gomez confirmed over the weekend that the show would return for a second season in the near future.
With that new season now commissioned, 13 Reasons Why‘s showrunner Bryan Yorkey has confirmed some fresh details about the future direction of the show. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Yorkey clarified for one that Jessica’s story “is not done.”
“When people intimate that Jessica’s story is done, I find that a horrific thought because Jessica is just beginning the process of recovering from her rape, and we have a rapist who has not in any way been brought to justice,” Yorkey said. “To leave those two things hanging out there in the world would be upsetting.”
Yorkey also confirmed that season two of 13 Reasons Why will rely less on the cassette tapes that were an integral part of its first season.
“The tapes are still obviously on people’s minds, but there is a different sort of analogue technology that plays a hugely important role in season two,” he said. “So the cassette tapes aren’t at the centre of it — those two boxes of tapes are still hanging around and matter to people — but there will be a new piece of technology for 13-year-olds to Google and try to understand what it was.”
Earlier this week, Zara Larsson retracted her criticism of 13 Reasons Why after previously labelling it as “meh” on Twitter.