HBO Doubles Down on ‘The Deuce’ With Season 2 Order
Make it a double for HBO’s The Deuce. The James Franco-Maggie Gyllenhaal porn drama is officially doubling down with a Season 2 order, keeping the 1970s New York City flesh trade in business.
Days after its second episode, The Deuce got the official HBO greenlight for Season 2, albeit without specifying if the next run would consist of the same eight episode order. All the same, HBO was quick to capitalize on those rave reviews:
We are thrilled to continue our creative collaboration with master storytellers David Simon and George Pelecanos. Their unique gift for immersing the audience in their dark and edgy worlds brings a brilliant verisimilitude unlike any other. With the remarkably talented Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco leading an exceptional cast, we look forward to delving deeper as this captivating story evolves.
Added The Wire vet Simon:
Everyone involved with this project is genuinely grateful to HBO for the chance to take the narrative where it needs to go. We knew the theme and purpose of the story, but there are many people in the entertainment industry who might not have it told, or worse, would have told it for the wrong reasons. HBO is a serious outfit. And they don’t scare.
The Deuce follows the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s. Franco plays twin porn kings Vincent and Frankie Martino, with Maggie Gyllenhaal playing Eileen “Candy” Merrell, a Times Square hooker with entrepreneurial aspirations of working behind the camera.
Its pilot directed by Michelle MacLaren, the series chronicles “the rough-and-tumble world that existed in midtown Manhattan until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and a rejuvenated real estate market ended the bawdy turbulence.” Also starring are The Leftovers alum Emily Meade, Anwan Glover, Lawrence Gilliard Jr, Michael Rispoli, Chris Bauer, David Krumholtz, Ralph Macchio, Zoe Kazan, Garry Pastore and more.
In the meantime, new episodes of The Deuce air Sunday nights on HBO.