The first season of HBO’s basketball drama Winning Time is now complete, laying the groundwork for season two. Winning Time was one of HBO’s most popular new exclusive shows in 2022, based on the real story of the Los Angeles Lakers’ rise to supremacy in the 1980s after choosing Earvin “Magic” Johnson. The first season was entirely centered on Magic Johnson’s debut season and the Lakers’ pursuit to win the NBA Finals. With its hype rising, fans are asking about the Winning Time Season 2 release date; let us talk about it.
This era for the Los Angeles Lakers is noteworthy because Winning Time is based on a true tale that spans well over a decade and is later converted into a book by Jeff Pearlman. Winning Time showcased Magic Johnson experiencing life as an NBA superstar and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar finding his love for the game as the first season progressed. Off the court, the Los Angeles Lakers faced numerous challenges, including finding a new coach after Jerry West resigned and transitioning to Jerry Buss as owner.
Will There Be A Winning Time Season 2?
When HBO revived Winning Time for a second season on April 7, just days after the fifth episode broadcast, it spent no time in assuring us that there would be more. It’s no surprise that HBO wants to remain in the fictional Showtime Lakers business now that the show has grown in popularity. On its launch night, the fifth episode received 1.2 million views across all platforms, up 37% from the premiere episode. The series premiere’s viewing had risen from 900,000 on premiere night to close to eight million by the show’s eighth week on television.
The second season is planned to have ten episodes once more. Max Borenstein & Jim Hecht will remain on the show as producers, and Adam McKay will return as a director. However, it is unknown whether McKay will produce any Winning Time season 2 episodes.
Francesca Orsi, executive VP of HBO Programming, at the moment of the revival, said in a comment that it’d been a real joy for someone like him to give life to Winning Time with Max Borenstein, Adam McKay, their fantastic producing crew, and the amazing cast. He also stated that “this show is not only a look back at a historical age in basketball, celebrities, and the city of L.a., but it is also a look forward to a thrilling story of the Lakers’ development.” And they’re excited to watch how this team will write the next chapter in this dynasty’s story.
Winning Time Season 2 Release Date
Despite the fact that a new season has been confirmed, the release date for Winning Time season 2 has yet to be announced. The first season premiered less than a year after filming started, so there’s a chance the second season will follow the lead. The status of the season 2 screenplays and filming plans, on the other hand, is unknown. If filming for Winning Time season 2 starts in the late fall of 2022, new episodes might air in the summer or fall of 2023.
At the very least, shooting and editing should be more efficient this time, especially in comparison to previous years. The idea for a series based on Pearlman’s book Winning Time first surfaced in 2014, when show co-creator Jim Hecht suggested the idea to the writer himself. The show was then tossed around as a concept for a time. It was not until 2019 that HBO formally ordered a pilot and hired Max Borenstein. For the next few months, casting, shooting, and production was in full force until the pilot was aired in March 2022.
With the initial stress of having the show greenlit behind, we can expect HBO to be all in for season 2 and want it back on their streaming site as quickly as possible. Given that Winning Time has been a smash hit and has been renewed for a season 2 halfway into season one’s ten episodes, we can assume that HBO is serious about this show’s potential.
Winning Time Season 2 Cast
Given Borenstein’s statements, it’s a reasonable guess that the majority of the Season 1 cast will reprise their roles in Season 2. Johnson (Quincy Isaiah), Buss (John C. Reilly), West (Jason Clarke), Abdul-Jabbar (Solomon Hughes), Riley (Adrian Brody), Westhead (Jason Segel), and Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson) are among those who appear in the series. Season 2 is expected to focus on the 1980-1981 season. Therefore, Season 1 favorites Michael Cooper (Delante Desouza) and Norm Nixon (DeVaughn Nixon) are expected to return. The rivalry between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics—specifically, Johnson vs. Bird—was the highlight of the 1980s. As a result, Bird and Red Auerbach, the Celtics’ stubborn general manager, will torture the Sunshine State’s gems for years to come.
Some former cast is likely to depart as the season progresses. Wood Harris, who portrays the struggling Spencer Haywood, gave one of the most compelling acting talents of the first season, but he may not return in Season 2 because Haywood spent the season following the Lakers’ championship with the Italian professional basketball team Reyer Venezia. For obvious, painful reasons, Jessie Buss’s motherly tough love will most certainly be absent from Season 2. There will also be some new characters in the series. The Lakers were knocked out of the first phase of the 1981 Playoffs by the Houston Rockets, who were led by Moses Malone, a dominant presence. As a result, Big Mo will appear on your screen in Season 2.
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Winning Time Season 2 Plot
Though some of the series’s real-life characters may disagree, Winning Time can only go so far from the historical record. Season one took viewers on a journey through the young Los Angeles Lakers’ climb to the top. The story follows the lives of the team’s players on and off the court, culminating in their win in the NBA finals for the 1979-1980 tournament. While it’s far too early to know any precise facts, we can make some fair assumptions about where the second season will go from here.
Obviously, the Lakers and their players have colorful backstories that extend far beyond the first season. Season One, in reality, hardly scraped the surface. Jeff Pearlman’s Showtime, the book on which the show is adapted, continues past the season one end. There’s a lot of promise there, and the writers seem willing to use time jumps based on the pilot episode’s opening scene. Is it possible that season two will take us ahead a few years? It’s a strong possibility.
If you recall, Winning Time’s first episode takes us about a decade through into the future, to the instant Magic Johnson learns he has HIV. Apart from the apparent 40-plus seasons of Lakers action to delve into, Winning Time has already stated its intention to at least capture the Showtime era after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s retirement, as verified by series co-creator Max Borenstein.
So, here’s the big query: Will Winning Time keep following the Lakers season by season? Or will the show start to combine 2 – 3 years of NBA history into a single tv season? If you believe the former, Winning Time won’t reach the LeBron James era before the year 2070. However, it would be fascinating to see how the program depicts the beginning of Magic Johnson & Larry Bird’s famed rivalry. Winning Time may be setting up for a greater focus on that, as well as the wider overall feud between the Lakers & the Boston Celtics, based on that final episode of season one.
What Creators Had To Say About Winning Time Season 2
Max Borenstein, the show’s co-creator, spoke in depth about his prospective intentions for the future of the series in an in-depth interview, stating that the writers will not make any large time leaps to speed up the storyline. He stated that the next season would proceed at the same pace as the first season, precisely in order to convey the next chapter of the story. He also mentioned that it would involve Pat Riley and Paul Westhead and a challenge Magic will face next year, and Jerry West’s next step toward becoming general manager. In the following season, a lot of revolutionary stuff starts to happen.
In a recent podcast, John C. Reilly expressed mixed feelings regarding the show’s future. He stated it took a lot of emotional energy to hold on to Jerry’s character for ten episodes because he had never portrayed a character for this much in a movie or play. Adding that if HBO wants to delve into the Shaq and Kobe period is above his pay scale, but he’s just contracted to do the next season of the show, and he’s never even considered whether he’d want to do it beyond that.
Is it possible for Winning Time to run for another six or seven seasons? It’s certainly conceivable, however, that a show like this might become increasingly expensive and difficult to shoot as it progresses. Ask any Game of Thrones lover. The Lakers’ story is almost as detailed as George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series. But at the very least, there’s a pre-written conclusion.
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