If you didn’t want to go and buy a floor-length billowing coat, wreck it with mud and wear a weird top hat, were you even watching Taboo?
In addition to surprising imperial style inspo, Taboo had pretty much everything else – a tale of corruption, haunting spirits, torture (of body and soul), brutal murders, gun powder, betrayal, a whole lot of incest and a good amount of grunting.
And it was all centred around Tom Hardy’s messed-up, cunning adventurer fellow James Delaney, who, thankfully, we’re set to see a lot more of.
The BBC has confirmed that they have picked up the show for another season. Citing record numbers on iPlayer (the first episode earned the BBC its third highest iPlayer audience ever, just behind Sherlock and one-off drama Murdered by my Boyfriend), they echoed all of our sentiments, stating that “a second series can’t come soon enough”.
Creator Steven Knight (didn’t that final episode have Knight’s Peaky Blinders touch written all over it?) has known he was onto a good thing for a while, saying earlier this year: “We think it has got a two and a three certainly, that's the plan. After that, who knows? This series is eight parts – it's a lot of time.”
Hardy, who came up with the original concept with his dad, said: “We are grateful and excited to continue our relationship with the BBC and FX in contributing towards British drama. Fantastic news.”
Meanwhile, executive producer Sir Ridley Scott added: “We’re thrilled people want to know what happens next and that the BBC and FX are up for more adventures with the devil Delaney and the league of the damned.
“Along with our international distributors, Sonar Entertainment, the BBC and FX have been great partners, supporting Taboo at every stage so it could be the dark, dirty brute of a drama that it is.”
SPOILER ALERT
Given where things were left – with Delaney and his band of not-so-merry misfits on a ship to the Americas, having killed off the directors of the formidable East India Company and blown up a bunch of the King’s soldiers – Taboo could be about to get a whole lot deeper and twisted.
Heading to the autonomous archipelago of the Azores to find the mysterious Colonnade and presumably secure his rights to Nootka Sound island, we’re guessing things could go a number of (dark) ways for the crew.
James could finally meet his mother’s tribe, who could be rather unwelcoming given his ma’s history (which we may find out more about). Colonnade could not be who we think and their relationship could (probably will) be dramatic. Meanwhile, it’s likely both the East India Company and the King (who ordered his death) will be after him with vengeance.
Additionally, as the Radio Times points out, the war between Britain and America that formed much of series one’s conflict ended in early 1815, just after the first series was set. If a second series included these events it might make James’ plans slightly more difficult – if Britain and America are more friendly, how can he play them off against each other?
Regardless, we’re looking forward to finding out.
The new season of Taboo will be eight episodes and is expected to air on BBC1 in 2018.
