[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for Ballard Season 1’s series finale]
Prime Video’s Ballard is a unusual outlier within the crime drama crowd. A derivative of a derivative, the crime thriller branches off from Bosch: Legacy, which itself originated from the unique collection Bosch. Each had been extremely profitable streaming titles, but each had been in the end canceled. Now, as Ballard launches forth and retains the Bosch universe alive, the brand new collection’ star Maggie Q is properly conscious of the bizarre place she’s in.
The present follows Detective Renée Ballard as she takes cost of the LAPD’s newly fashioned chilly case division. A veteran officer just lately demoted and disgraced via no fault of her personal, Ballard should confront previous trauma whereas combating to regain the belief of her division—and herself. Her fall from grace started when she reported being assaulted by Detective Robert Olivas (Ricardo Chavira). As a substitute of receiving help, she was faraway from the Theft-Murder Division she had labored tirelessly to affix.
Forged out by former colleagues and caught in a poisonous sport of “he mentioned, she mentioned,” Ballard was relegated to the basement-level chilly case unit, the place she now fights to show she nonetheless belongs. With a ragtag crew of reserves and volunteers, she tackles long-forgotten instances, hoping to deliver closure to victims and households who had been left behind.
Within the finale, the season ended on a cliffhanger: Olivas was discovered useless below unclear circumstances, and Ballard was hauled away by police as their high suspect. Nevertheless, regardless of a powerful setup for Season 2, essential acclaim, and strong phrase of mouth, Q remained hesitant concerning the present’s future.
“I’ve no sense. This business shouldn’t be what it was earlier than. It’s barely recognizable to me, and reveals are so expendable. They’ll throw out a present in two seconds, and it doesn’t make a ton of distinction that complete worlds and livelihoods are at stake,” mentioned Q to The Hollywood Reporter. “Studios all the time have choices. However we’ve got a writers room, they usually’ve been writing away.”
Nonetheless, the Ballard star has excessive hopes for the following season, whereas remaining sensible in relation to renewals.
“The arc for the second season could be very thrilling. However I’ve had [a] writers room employed earlier than after which gotten canceled. So everybody’s like, ‘Maggie, after all!’ I’m like, ‘No, no, no.’ There isn’t any ‘after all,’” mentioned Q. “I’m not a damaging individual in any respect. I’m a really constructive individual, however I’m a realist. They despatched me opinions this morning, and I didn’t need to learn them. I’m glad they’re constructive, however I don’t need to learn them.”
Whether or not or not she needs to learn them, the opinions are constructive. Critics and followers of the Bosch franchise benefit from the expanded universe, particularly with Q because the lead. However initially, Q didn’t need to high a collection.
“I used to be on a flight to New Zealand and was despatched the primary six or seven scripts,” Q informed THR in a separate interview. “I mentioned to my brokers, ‘I’ll let you recognize after I land what I believe.’ It was a 14-hour flight, and sadly, most belongings you learn, you don’t like — in the event you’re discerning. So with no expectation, I dove in on the aircraft, and I keep in mind instantly going, ‘I actually like this. It’s a web page turner.’”
“I actually was not seeking to lead a present once more. It was not on my record — I used to be not searching for this. So it makes it much more particular that it did discover me, particularly as a result of it wasn’t one thing I used to be seeking to do,” she says. “I completely perceive what they’re attempting to do together with her and why her journey would matter to folks; why they may need to comply with this lady was very clear. And that doesn’t occur fairly often.”
Nonetheless ready on whether or not or not they get a Season 2, Q is completely comfortable both approach. But when she will get the decision, she goes again to work sooner quite than later.
“If we get a Season 2 of Ballard, I believe we’ll be again within the fall to shoot,” she mentioned.
Ballard, Prime Video