Netflix Renews Space Force for Second Season

Steve Carell is returning to Space Force for at least one more go around. Netflix announced Friday afternoon the series from Carell and Greg Daniels would be coming back for a second season, though major changes have been implemented to help scale back the show’s massive budget. According to the report from THR, photography for the series will be shifted from Los Angeles to Vancouver, a growing locale for Hollywood productions. Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Norm Hiscock has also joined the comedy as co-showrunner, who will help oversee the writer’s room alongside Daniels.

Joining Hiscock in the revamped writer’s room includes comedian Jimmy O. Yang, who plays Dr. Chan Kaifang on the series. The trade reports the reshuffling is a direct result of Netflix hoping the series can pick up a larger following after its initial season, much like The Office, another series written by Daniels.

It’s believed Carell’s deal for Space Force is one of the most expensive agreements in place for the streamer, which nets the funnyman over $1 million per episode due to his credits as a star, co-creator, and executive producer.

The first outing tallied just a 38-percent Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the site’s Critics Consensus says the show has “an all-star cast and blockbuster-worthy special effects,” which “aren’t enough to keep Space Force’s uneven blend of earnestness and satire from spinning quickly out of comedic orbit.” The site’s Audience Score is much more forgiving, with fans giving it a 75-percent rating.

When we spoke with Daniels earlier this year, the writer revealed he was approached by Carell to join the property. At the time of development, the King of the Hill creator was also writing Upload for Amazon Prime.

“Well, there was an executive at Netflix who had a meeting with Steve, and said, ‘All right, two words. Space Force. What about that?’” Daniels told ComicBook.com in May. “Because he was trying to get Steve interested in an idea, and Steve called me and said, ‘How about something called, Space Force? What about that? You’ve got any ideas?’”

Carell and Yang join an ensemble cast that also includes Diana Silvers, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, Ben Schwartz, Tawny Newsome, Spencer House, Patrick Warburton, Diedrich Bader, Owen Daniels, Noah Emmerich, and others.

The first season of Space Force is now streaming on Netflix.