Daisy Jones & The Six: A Second Season Would Be A Massive Mistake
Adapted from Taylor Jenkins Reid's wildly popular novel, "Daisy Jones & The Six" released in the spring of 2023 on Amazon Prime and became an immediate hit, drawing in both fans of the original book and newcomers alike. The story of the fictional band Daisy Jones & The Six — told in a documentary format on the show, and as an oral history in the novel — and their tumultuous rise to fame and eventual split, the 10-episode miniseries features Riley Keough as the titular Daisy alongside Sam Claflin, Camila Morrone, and a fantastic supporting cast.
Now, the creators behind it are mulling over a second season. Speaking to Variety after the first season ended, Reid and executive producer Brad Mendelsohn discussed the series, and whether or not it could possibly return. "I think we're in a really fortunate position where we have a story that is final, and has an ending that feels really good," Reid told Variety. "I would only open that back up if it felt like there was a story here that we have to tell. Have I been thinking about what that is? I certainly have."
Reid did write the source material, so if anyone could continue this story, it should be her. That said, nobody should do that. "Daisy Jones & The Six" is a fantastic miniseries, and it should stay that way.
The minds behind Daisy Jones & The Six want to continue the story... somehow
"To see the performances that you have from this cast, and specifically Riley and Sam, and be willing to walk away from that without asking yourself whether you could give them another opportunity to dig into these characters would be very silly," Reid continued. "I'm not so stupid as to not recognize what we have in the two of them. So it's definitely on my mind."
This is all well and good — and Reid isn't wrong in saying Keough and Claflin are great on-screen together — but extending the story beyond its natural endpoint doesn't make any sense whatsoever. As it stands now, the story goes like this: a band that names themselves "The Six" needs something to set them apart and find that extra spark in Daisy Jones (Keough), a talented yet unpredictable singer-songwriter. After Daisy joins the band, she butts heads with and ultimately forms a bond with Billy Dunne (Claflin), to his wife Camila's (Morrone) dismay.
Amidst the band's struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, sobriety, and fame, the series closes with the band's final concert in Chicago in 1977, revealing that the documentary was made by Billy and Camila's daughter Julia after Camila passed away. This is also precisely where the book ends, so why keep going? Why mine this already great story for more material?
Daisy Jones & The Six should look at Big Little Lies as a bad example
Continuing a story past its natural endpoint is bad enough, but when it's an adaptation, that makes the situation even worse. Crafting more material out of whole cloth after the source material ends can yield rough results — look at the mess that is the final seasons of "Game of Thrones" — but when it comes to "Daisy Jones & The Six," the best cautionary tale out there is the second season of HBO's "Big Little Lies."
Like "Daisy Jones," "Big Little Lies" was adapted from a novel (by Liane Moriarty), and its first season — which was billed as a miniseries — adapted the book from beginning to end. This resulted in a perfect closed loop, showing audiences the beginning and end of a murder mystery involving Nicole Kidman's Celeste Cunningham, her abusive husband Perry (Alexander Skärsgard), and the friends who surround her to ultimately dispose of Perry and cover up the whole ordeal (played by Zoë Kravitz, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon, and Shailene Woodley). The show proved to be so popular that HBO greenlit a second season, bringing the original cast back along with Meryl Streep, who was an uncharacteristically terrible addition. The second season was a complete flop as a result.
Reid and Mendelsohn should not let "Daisy Jones" become the new "Big Little Lies," which gave a near-perfect first season a dud of a follow-up — and they'd be wise to avoid this fate.
What about a Daisy Jones & The Six spin-off?
There's really only one way to continue the story of "Daisy Jones & The Six," and it's some sort of spin-off. An obvious subject would be Julia, briefly played by Seychelle Gabriel as an adult, who interviews every living member of the band to tell their story. As the series ends, Julia plays a video message for Daisy from Camila, made before she died from cancer, telling the frontwoman to reach out to Billy and reconcile after all these years — and she shows a similar video to her father. In the ending, Daisy and Billy do reunite, but basing yet another season on them could feel like old territory after exploring their wildly dysfunctional connection in Season 1.
Reid would obviously be the perfect person to write Julia's ongoing story; Keough and Claflin could even feature as Daisy and Billy, but shifting the focus to a new generation and a new voice could be a shot in the arm rather than a frustrating attempt to recapture the magic of the first season. Besides, Daisy and Billy aren't rock stars anymore. What would they do in Season 2? Sit around and watch TV? Give Julia a spotlight and let Gabriel show off her own talents — if Reid and Mendelsohn insist on keeping Daisy's story alive, they need a different perspective.
The (excellent) first season of "Daisy Jones & The Six" is available to stream on Amazon Prime now.