Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag is one of those shows that worked perfectly as a self-contained one-off — six tight episodes, tied up at the end in a nice little bow. (Netflix’s Russian Doll, with Natasha Lyonne, is another one that arguably doesn’t need a second season.) Its creator and star thought so too. She swore she wouldn’t do a Series 2…until she flip-flopped. And here we are, with the BBC shows’ second series set to return on May 17. Still, Waller-Bridge is saying there definitely won’t be a third. Unless she changes her mind again.
Waller-Bridge — heard last summer stealing bits of Solo: A Star Wars Story as the fastidious droid who was probably boning Donald Glover’s Young Lando Calrissian — was speaking at TCA about her play-turned-show, which runs on Amazon Prime in America. She looked back on how, when the show ended in 2016, she thought it needed nothing more. In fact, instead of following the further adventures of the eponymous character — an often selfish, destructive, fourth-wall-breaking café owner with a secret — she went on to write the much-loved Killing Eve instead.
“I decided not to do a second season. Absolutely. For sure,” she said, then joked, “I have great pride in my artistic integrity.”
Waller-Bridge obviously changed her mind, though not right away. “I needed to take space from Fleabag after that first series and the play,” she said, as per The Hollywood Reporter. “She’s a different person now. She’s in a different stage of her life. It’s not the immediate next chapter. You can delve into a whole new level of psychology and really depart from the first series.”
Though Fleabag’s dysfunctional family will return — including her godmother, played by current awards season delight Olivia Colman — one character that’s new, as per Deadline, is a “hot priest” played by Sherlock’s Andrew Scott. One of the issues running through the season will be religion, with the Hot Priest confronting Fleabag over her atheism.
“I wanted someone to challenge her, who she couldn’t reduce to an anecdote,” Waller-Bridge said. “They really challenge each other.” How far Fleabag will go with the Hot Priest remains to be seen, but it’s unlikely Grant, terrific actor though he is, will be able to hold a candle next to the most ludicrous Hot Priest in screen history: Matthew McConaughey in Contact.
Anyway, Waller-Bridge said don’t expect a Series 3. She’s done with Fleabag and Fleabag, she says. Unless she’s not. “I may be surprised again,” she added.
