‘Prodigal Son’: Fox Renews Serial Killer Drama For Season 2

Peter White
·4 min read

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Expect more blood after Fox picked up serial killer thriller Prodigal Son for a second season.

The network is likely to air the second season of the series, which stars Michael Sheen and Tom Payne, in midseason, as a result of the COVID-19 production shutdown. The renewal comes after network unveiled its fall schedule last week and the renewal of The Resident and Last Man Standing earlier this week.

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Prodigal Son, which was the season’s number two new scripted series after 9-1-1: Lone Star, follows Tom Payne’s Malcolm Bright, son of ‘The Surgeon’, played by Sheen, who as a child was responsible for enabling the police to arrest his father. He has not seen his father in ten years after joining Quantico. Now a profiler, formerly with the FBI, until he was fired, and currently consulting for the New York Police Department, Bright is forced to confront his father after a copycat serial killer uses Whitly’s methods of killing. He finds himself drawn back into constant contact with his father as he must both use Whitly’s insights to help the police solve particularly horrible crimes and battle his own inner demons.

The first season of the show, which also stars Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage, Aurora Perrineau and Frank Harts, ends with Bright unravelling the mystery of the girl in the box in a gruesome finale, helped by his sister, played by Sage.

Speaking to Deadline about the season finale, creators and showrunners Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver, who were “cautiously optimistic” about a renewal, said that if they were picked up, they would see more of the world through the eyes of Young’s Jessica, Diamond Phillips’ Gil and Sage’s Aisnley.

Sklaver said, “Everyone who is in Martin’s life, the idea at the core of this show is what if your father was a serial killer but I’m just as fascinated by the idea of what if your husband was a serial killer. So, I do think, we’re so blessed with Bellamy, Halston and Tom, this Whitly family, we can focus on so many aspects of them and we know that our actors can deliver with such high calibre, we can’t really do any wrong, hopefully.”

The pair also teased the idea of bringing in other guest actors in the villain role, as seen by Dermot Mulroney in season one. “We love the idea of bringing in actors and letting them explore these characters with us. Having great actors to play in our delightfully disturbing world is something that makes this show so fun to make,” Fedak said.

Prodigal Son is produced by Berlanti Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television and Fox Entertainment. Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver created the show, and both are executive producers, showrunners and writers on the series. Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and Adam Kane serve as executive producers. Lee Toland Krieger directed and executive-produced the pilot.

“From the moment Prodigal Son premiered, fans have been captivated by the astounding performances turned in by Tom Payne and Michael Sheen, as they go head-to-head in one of most unique family relationships on television,” said Michael Thorn, President, Entertainment, for Fox Entertainment. “Adding to these searing dynamics are the equally compelling portrayals from Bellamy Young, Lou Diamond Phillips, Halston Sage and the entire cast in a brilliant premiere season as told by Chris Fedak and Sam Sklaver. We’d like to thank our friends Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, and everyone at Warner Bros. Television for helping make a series that left everyone wanting more, and we’re thrilled to have Prodigal Son return for our 2020-21 slate.”

Watch a promo for season two below:

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