Sundance Channel has renewed “Rectify,” its great new drama about a Death Row inmate (Aden Young) unexpectedly released into a world he never expected to see again, for a second season, with 10 new episodes set to debut sometime in 2014.
Because Sundance is new to the original scripted series game (“Rectify” and the miniseries “Top of the Lake” have been their first major drama entries), it’s been unclear exactly what the bar is for success. Based on a press release that talked overwhelmingly about the show’s excellent reviews (mine is here), it appears that for now, they’re just happy to have shows that people are talking about, especially in such a positive light.
“The response to ‘Rectify” has been incredible,” Sundance president Sarah Barnett said in a statement. “We feel as though this story has tapped into something truly unique, with both critics and audiences using their platforms to share such strong, personal reactions to this very distinctive TV series. There”s so much drama and character that”s been set up in the first season, it will be electrifying to see where ‘Rectify’ goes in season two.”
I’m glad it’s coming back, not just because I found the original six episodes terrific, but because “Rectify” creator Ray McKinnon clearly plotted this out as an ongoing story, and left a lot of things up in the air at the end of this first season. Had this been the entire run of the show, I’d have been frustrated that more parts of the story didn’t get closure.
What does everybody think of the series so far? Given the very slow pace at which McKinnon tells the story, do you feel like there’s enough story here to carry us through another 10 hours after this season?