Beloved Netflix Series' Creator Squashes Season 2 Rumors

It's been almost three years since Netflix released The Queen's Gambit, the seven-episode Anya Taylor-Joy series based on Walter Tevis' 1983 novel of the same name. The series was a hit with both fans and critics alike and even now, fans have been hopeful for a second season of the series. Unfortunately, director and executive producer Scott Frank has a disappointing update when it comes to the story of chess prodigy Beth Harmon: a second season just is not in the cards. Speaking with Deadline, Frank said that they've told. the story they wanted to tell.

"I feel like we told the story we wanted to tell, and I worry — let me put it differently — I'm terrified that if we try to tell more, we would ruin what we've already told," Frank said.

"We're all certainly going to keep working together," executive producer William Horberg added. "And try to find another story to tell with the same passion and team of amazing artists."

Anya Taylor-Joy Has Previously Not Entirely Ruled Out a Second Season

The. more definitive answer from Frank and Horberg about a second season of The Queen's Gambit may disappoint some fans, especially since Taylor-Joy has previously seemed to be more open to the idea of more. In 2021, Taylor-Joy said "maybe" when asked about a possible season two, though she did at that time note that they hadn't given it too much thought.

"Maybe," Taylor-Joy said. "Not to disappoint anybody, but we just never thought about it. It was always a sapling to tree transition. You see her grow, you leave her in a good place. So, we were genuinely surprised when people were like, 'Where's season?' That being said, I adore the entire team that made it and I would jump at the chance to work with them again."

"One of my favorite things about her was because she was raised in this interesting way, she never really saw her gender as something that told her what she could or couldn't want. And I really enjoyed playing that, especially in the context of the '60s," Taylor-Joy said of her character. "So, I think more than playing a strong woman, I feel very honored to have played such an interesting, complex person. And I'm very proud of that."

What is The Queen's Gambit About?

Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, the Netflix limited series drama The Queen's Gambit is a coming-of-age story that explores the true cost of genius. Abandoned and entrusted to a Kentucky orphanage in the late 1950s, a young Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) discovers an astonishing talent for chess while developing an addiction to tranquilizers provided by the state as a sedative for the children. Haunted by her personal demons and fueled by a cocktail of narcotics and obsession, Beth transforms into an impressively skilled and glamorous outcast while determined to conquer the traditional boundaries established in the male-dominated world of competitive chess. 

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