It has been nearly three long years since the last episode of the HBO limited series Mare of Easttown graced our screens, and fans are still wondering if a second season is ever going to happen.
There’s just something about the character of Mare Sheehan, played with award-winning perfection by Kate Winslet, that got under our skin and left us wanting more. Part of it has to be that oh-so-familiar accent!
Kate Winslet is British, but her American accent is always spot on. The actress took her skills to another level while playing Mare, channeling every Pennsylvanian who ever asked for a glass of “woo-der” instead of water. The accent makes the character strikingly real, and perhaps that’s why she’s so unforgettable.
Mare of Easstown premiered on HBO on April 18, 2021. The crime drama was created and written by Brad Ingelsby, who himself grew up in Pennsylvania, and directed by Craig Zobel. Winslet plays a detective with a myriad of deep, dark personal problems who is attempting to solve a murder in her small hometown on the outskirts of Philadelphia. Mare grew up in this town and struggles to overcome people’s preconceived notions about her. She’s also got a poor track record for solving murders; the murder of a young girl has remained unsolved for the past year, and she’s no closer to finding the culprit.
In her personal life, she’s coping with a divorce, a custody battle for her grandson, and tragically, the death of her adult son by suicide. A cast of supporting actors including Julianne Nicholson as Mare’s best friend Lori, Jean Smart as her mother, Helen, and Evan Peters as Detective Colin Zabel round out the cast nicely.
Everyone loved Mare of Easttown! The series received 16 Primetime Emmy Awards and won four: Outstanding Lead Actress for Winslet, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Nicholson, and Outstanding Supporting Actor for Peters. With that kind of overwhelming success, you’d think they’d be teeing up a season 2 any day now … but not so much.
Will there be a season 2 of Mare of Easttown?
Sadly, there’s no deal on the table at the moment, but that doesn’t mean the show couldn’t come back. In fact, multiple members of the cast and crew have expressed a desire to revisit Easttown and all its flawed inhabitants. Speaking with Esquire, Ingelsby indicated that season 1 is “a closed story,” but he’d write another season if he found the right concept.
“I think if we could ever crack a story that was as emotional and surprising, then I think maybe there’s a conversation. I don’t have that in my head right now, but I mean, listen, I love Mare,” he said. “If we could ever give her a great season, I would certainly consider it.”
Similarly, Nicholson told People she’d “100 percent” return for season 2 if she was asked. “It’s not impossible,” she said. “You never know.”
What about Winslet? Well, it’s complicated. In 2022, IndieWire reported that the Academy Award-winning actress told Josh Horowitz on his “Happy Sad Confused” podcast that playing Mare was “really tough.”
“It was a lot for me to play that character. I’m not going to lie,” Winslet admitted. “Coming out the other side was frighteningly hard. It made me realize, ‘Oh my god, if I go to work now, it really hurts,’ and I have to look after myself. I have a family. I can’t just do that.”
This comment jives with her previous remarks, including a 2021 interview with Net-a-Porter where the actress said, “You never know. I loved playing her. [But] it was really hard… [and] it took so long to get her out of my bloody system.”
We know the feeling! We can’t get Mare out of our heads, either. While a second season of Mare of Easttown is not on the horizon, the creative minds behind it seem open to making more of the popular show, so we’re staying optimistic! In the meantime, Winslet will next appear in a six-part HBO series written by Will Tracy (Succession) called The Regime. Sounds great, but we’ll sure miss that Pennsylvanian accent.
Mare of Easttown is currently streaming on Max.
(featured image: HBO Max)
