[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The Girlfriend Season 1 finale.]
Prime Video‘s The Girlfriend is a twisted bit of fun. Come for the well-cast ensemble featuring Robin Wright, Olivia Cooke, Laurie Davidson, Waleed Zuaiter, Tanya Moodie, and more, and stay for the messed-up psychological thrill ride that keeps you guessing until the very last moments.
The six-episode first season came out all at once on September 10 on Prime Video. As of the time of publication, The Girlfriend hasn’t been renewed. This shouldn’t be surprising, given that it was originally billed as a limited series. But the stars seem intrigued by the possibility of returning to this world.
The Girlfriend follows Laura (Wright), a woman who seemingly has it all: a glittering career, a loving husband, and her precious son, Daniel. Her perfect life begins to unravel when Daniel brings home Cherry (Cooke), a girlfriend who changes everything. After a tense introduction, Laura becomes convinced Cherry is hiding something. Is she a manipulative social climber, or is Laura just paranoid? The truth is a matter of perspective.
Could there be a Season 2 of The Girlfriend? Here’s what the cast and creators have said, plus what a second season could explore.
Is The Girlfriend renewed?
No, The Girlfriend has not been renewed or canceled since its September 10 premiere. Wright and Cooke expressed interest in making a second season to TV Insider.
With a teasing look in her eye and biting back a smile, Wright told us in our finale interview, “We have to see the success, or non-success, of the show. ‘Cause it could go down…”
“We giggled, ‘Season 2 should be The Boyfriend!’” Wright added, as Cooke laughed.
Executive producer Jonathan Cavendish said they’re interested in making The Girlfriend Season 2.
“We decided — and this wasn’t our original thing — that we’d love to do a second season if Amazon wanted to,” Cavendish recently told TechRadar. “Season 2 could really go at the same story told in a different way.”
The Girlfriend is an adaptation of the Michelle Frances novel of the same name, for which there is no sequel. A second season of The Girlfriend would require creating an entirely new story, one without Wright in the present-day timeline.
Prime Video
How does The Girlfriend end?
The series ends with Laura being killed by her own son, Daniel (Davidson), who intervened to save Cherry’s life when Cherry and Laura got into a brutal brawl in the basement pool of Laura’s house. Cherry hid her dark, violent past from Daniel and his father, Howard (Zuaiter), a past that Laura was catching on to.
By the finale’s end, Laura had uncovered the truth about what Cherry did to her own father, which landed him in a nursing home needing round-the-clock medical care. But Daniel didn’t learn the truth about his fiancée until the finale’s last moments, when he discovered Laura’s missing phone that had been hidden under a piece of furniture for months.
After he charged the device, he discovered video evidence of a conversation with Cherry’s mother, Tracey (Karen Henthorn), that proved Laura’s innocence. The season ended with Daniel looking at the pregnant Cherry in horrified shock, with Cherry noticing that something wasn’t right.
This cliffhanger works as a horrifying ending, but also as a cliffhanger setup for a potential second season. They could make Cherry and Daniel face off in a new story, one that would also require trying to make Howard see the light about his conwoman of a daughter-in-law. The love between Cherry and Daniel is real, but so are the many lies. It would be juicy to see Daniel grapple with killing his own mother for the wrong reasons and how that would impact his relationship with Cherry now that they have a child on the way.
The Girlfriend showed two mothers who would protect their children no matter what wrongs they committed against others. Tracey could become the Laura figure in a second season, but this time, defending the villainous Cherry, or Howard, or Daniel could even slip into that role. Laura could also be seen in flashbacks, allowing Wright to return (Wright also directed three of the six episodes, so she’d likely want to come back for more).
It seems like the creative team wants The Girlfriend Season 2 to happen. Do you?
The Girlfriend, Available Now, Prime Video