The Mosquito Coast Season 2 - What We Know So Far

Upon its publication in 1981, author Paul Theroux's "The Mosquito Coast" explored the dissatisfaction many Americans felt about consumerism at the time (per The New York Times). The novel's positive reviews eventually led to a 1986 film adaptation of the same directed by Peter Weir. Harrison Ford, who later called "The Mosquito Coast" his best role, starred as protagonist/antagonist Allie Fox, with Helen Mirren and River Phoenix featured as Margot and Charlie Fox, respectively.

Since movies can only do so much to adapt all the intricacies of a book, longtime fans of the novel could finally hope for a faithful adaptation once the trailer for "The Mosquito Coast" series arrived in the spring of 2021. The show's 1st season was developed by Neil Cross and Tom Bissell and ran for seven episodes on AppleTV+. Justin Theroux (the nephew of the novel's author) was cast as Allie, with Melissa George (Margot), Logan Polish (Dina Fox), and Gabriel Bateman as Charlie rounding out the main cast. Variety reported the show's renewal shortly after the conclusion of the debut installment, and here is everything we know so far about Season 2.

AppleTV+ press has revealed that the first episode of "The Mosquito Coast" Season 2 will premiere on Friday, November 4, 2022. The show will also follow a weekly release pattern where a new episode will drop on the streamer every Friday until the conclusion of the second run. This follows the same release schedule for Season 1, which contained the first two episodes upon its premiere on April 30, 2021, and then one episode per week for the remainder of the debut batch of episodes.

Unlike the premiere season, which only featured seven episodes, the second season will contain 10 hours of content this go around, which will likely delve deeper into the novel's complex themes.

Speaking with Collider about what the second installment could cover, Melissa George commented, "I know what we haven't shown, what we could show, and we haven't shown yet, and that's great. We've barely even made it to where we had to go. We haven't even got there yet. I know there's a lot more." Ten episodes should allow for much more compelling storytelling to take place.

Season 1 of "The Mosquito Coast" followed the basic outline of the novel and centered on Allie Fox (Theroux), an inventor, who decides to move his wife (George) and two children (Polish and Bateman) to live a simpler life on a stretch of the Mexican coastline. Throughout the 1st season, the Fox family must deal with their new lives based on survivalist skills compared to the relative comforts they experienced in America. From the first episode, "Light Out," to the finale titled "The Glass Sandwich," most of the book's central plot elements are explored, which concludes with Allie, Margot, Dina, and Charlie sailing down a river in Mexico in search of their new pristine paradise in Guatemala (via IndieWire).

Once "The Mosquito Coast" was renewed by Apple for Season 2, it became clear that the program would take its time exploring all of Theroux's book and the interpersonal conflicts between the characters. According to the official synopsis from Apple, the 2nd season is expected to follow the family once they reach the Guatemalan jungle, where they will meet up with an old friend who lives in a camp of similar 'refugees' from capitalist society. New problems soon emerge once Allie and Margot become entangled with a local drug trafficker, which causes a rift in their relationship since each parent has different ideas about how best to move their family forward.

"The Mosquito Coast" has ramped up its casting decisions for Season 2. Theroux, George, Polish, and Bateman will all return for the second outing along with the character of William 'Bill' Lee (Ian Hart), now joining the main cast after recurring throughout the 1st season. Since this series revolves solely around its cast and the different dynamics between the players relating to Allie's actions, the addition of new characters from the book or otherwise is to be expected. In addition to Hart's upgrade to series regular, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Ariyon Bakare will also join the program in two mystery roles. Bakare starred in "His Dark Materials," a British fantasy series that aired on BBC One and later HBO in the United States.

Cordova-Buckley rose to fame in the early 2010s playing "Agent of Shield's" Yo-Yo Rodriguez. Once her addition to the show was announced in February 2022, the actress shared on her Instagram, "Happy to join the family of #themosquitocoast @appletvplus. Inspired on the great book by Paul Theroux THE MOSQUITO COAST. Worth the read." Although we know nothing about who the actors will be playing, their talent, along with Hart's menacing hitman Bill Lee, is sure to increase the tension and drama in the second season.

"The Mosquito Coast" was developed and brought to the screen by British author and screenwriter Neil Cross and American writer and journalist Tom Bissell. Cross serves as the primary showrunner and co-wrote the first episode, "Light Out," along with Bissell. In addition to his career as a fiction writer, the author has also created the TV show "Luther," starring Idris Elba in the title role, as well as the short-lived crime drama series "Hard Sun" on Hulu. Bissell is primarily known for his work as a video game writer, which includes such titles as "Gears 5," "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter," and "Battlefield Hardline."

During an interview with RadioTimes.com in 2021, Cross spoke about how the show relates to the original novel and stated, "The idea is that we do the opposite of what 'The Handmaid's Tale' did, which is they started with the novel, and then they expand – we're moving towards the novel, we're moving towards 'The Mosquito Coast,' he explained." This explains how much of the first season is entirely unrelated to the source material and only covers the Fox family's journey to the titular coastline.

AppleTV+ released the official trailer for the second season of "The Mosquito Coast" on October 12, 2022, and the clip establishes what happened to the Fox family once they reached the coastline they were seeking. The preview starts by showing the family arriving in what appears to be a camp in the jungle populated by other missionaries and refugees. After Margot begrudgingly tells Allie that he "wants to make this a home, rather they [she and the kids] like it or not," we then see Allie conversing with the mysterious Isela, who hopes that she will not regret bringing the family into her compound.

The rest of the trailer is intense in how it builds up the disintegrating relationship between husband and wife, as well as hints that Margot may eventually turn Allie over to the FBI in order to escape from him along with their children. Season 2 of "The Mosquito Coast" is shaping up to be an intense back-and-forth struggle between the married couple, which is sure to feature incredible acting from Theroux and George, respectively.