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.

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" 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.