Netflix renewed Matt Groening’s Disenchantment for season 2, while confirming the second half of season 1 will premiere in 2019. Starring Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), the medieval, animated series follows Bean, the foul-mouthed, hard-drinking Princess of Dreamland, who’s more interested in living in the moment than happily ever after. The show has received acclaim for Groening’s trademark blend of sardonic humor and social commentary, as well as its voice work by comedy champions, like Eric Andre and Nat Faxon, and Futurama veterans, Billy West, John DiMaggio, and Tress MacNeille.
Part 1 of the first season ended with more questions than resolutions for the three main series protagonists: Bean, her demon guide Luci, and Elfo, a runaway elf captured and experimented on by Bean’s father King Zog. The story focused mainly on the three of them bonding, as Bean staggers through her teenage self-discovery, having rejected her duty to be married off to a prince. After Bean managed to revive her entombed mother, Queen Dagmar turns all of Dreamland to stone, and as the two of them escape, Bean’s destiny that her mother alluded to remained unresolved. The reason Luci was sent to Bean and the origin of the enchantress who dispatched him isn’t revealed, and Elfo, who’s apparently not dead, has been dropped into a solo adventure for the time being.
Next year’s episodes of Disenchantment will conclude the show’s first season. The second season will likewise be broken into two 10-episode releases, scheduled for 2020 and 2021. Matt Groening said in a statement that fans can expect more of what they loved from the first season:
While no date has been confirmed, seasons of Netflix Originals animated hits like Big Mouth and BoJack Horseman have generally been released roughly a year apart. Fans could, therefore, expect new episodes around August 2019. Since the first season has clearly been meticulously planned, it’s possible they’ll arrive sooner. However, Jacobson is currently working on the final season of Broad City, which is also scheduled to premiere sometime in 2019.
“We’re excited to continue this epic journey with Netflix. Stay tuned for more cranked-up suspense, infuriating plot twists, and beloved characters getting knocked off.”
The key opportunity that many fans are excited for is discovering more about who these characters are, as opposed to what they’re like. Elfo is introduced by his existential crisis when he questions the elf society that normalizes mindless happiness. The non-elf half of his parentage presumably plays a part in his predisposition to think apart from his brethren, but seeing what he’ll do on Mermaid island, removed from the candy forest and his infatuation with Bean will potentially make him his own kind of hero. Luci, ever sarcastic and uncaring, represents hopelessness masquerading as evil. But much like Rick Sanchez in Rick and Morty, the exploration of the backstory that leaves him burdened by knowledge and crippled by apathy would play into one of the themes that’s helped popularize today’s wave of philosophical, made-for-adult cartoons.
As for Bean, the question isn’t whether or not she’ll accept a magical saviour destiny, like Sailor Moon or Buffy Summers. She’s already been established as someone who rejects binary notions of choice, and does what works for her. While many of her decisions have been self-serving and counterproductive, she’s made them on her own, and the show’s ability to separate heroism from nobility and perfection in a fairy tale world is part of what makes it so intriguing.
MORE: What To Expect From Disenchantment Season 2
Source: Netflix
