Sweet Magnolias Season 2 - What We Know So Far
Sweet Magnolias was one of the best surprises to come out of 2020. The charming Netflix series offered viewers the perfect blend of strong female friendships, romance, and Southern hospitality with a side of Gilmore Girls-style small town quirkiness that left us wanting more. Thankfully, Netflix has obliged on that front — Sweet Magnolias was renewed for season 2 in July 2020, just a couple of months after its May premiere on the streamer.
Had the series not been renewed, fans would have had plenty of reasons to be miffed with Netflix. By the end of season 1, a prom night car crash leaves Maddie and Bill's youngest son Kyle injured, and the fate of the mystery passenger who was with him up in the air. Meanwhile, Dana Sue's employee Isaac wants to know if she's his birth mom, and Helen and Erik's slow burn romance was just kicking off before they got the phone call about the teens' accident.
That's a whole lot of cliffhangers to end the show's first season on, and we can't wait to see Maddie, Helen, and Dana Sue pour it out with some margaritas after all of that drama. Which begs the question, when exactly will Sweet Magnolias season 2 land on Netflix? And will all of those pesky cliffhangers be resolved?
Sweet Magnolias season 2's release date is still unconfirmed
Due to the ongoing pandemic, many TV show productions have been delayed, and it seems that Sweet Magnolias is no exception. Netflix officially renewed the series for a second season on July 23, 2020, as reported by Deadline, but there hasn't been any official word on when production will begin. However, in October, Sherryl Woods, who wrote the book series on which the show is based, tweeted some encouraging words for fans hoping to return to the fictional town of Serenity as soon as possible.
"Yes, we are so excited about bringing you all season 2 of #SweetMagnolias Keeping our fingers crossed that NOTHING will keep us from getting into production in Georgia in 2021. Stay tuned," she tweeted.
More recently, Covington, Georgia's (where Sweet Magnolias films) paper The Covington News teased that production on Sweet Magnolias season 2 could get underway soon. In a January 2021 article about The CW's Legacies' return to production, it was noted that season 2 is set to begin filming in "early 2021." Those early reports were apparently confirmed by Southern Living, which also ran a story claiming season 2 had officially entered production on location in Georgia. Good news, yeah? Not so fast. Fansided reported as recently as January 27 that Sweet Magnolias season 2 had yet to return to production, seemingly contradicting those earlier reports, which originated from The Covington News piece. Fansided's article actually refers to Looper's own confirmed-yet-much-more-nebulous "early 2021" timeframe. Where does the truth lie? The pandemic has made production schedules difficult to pin down. Rest assured, however, that we'll keep you apprised as soon as we hear anything concrete.
We may still get to see season 2 before the end of 2021, especially if production resumes in short order, so hold onto hope for now.
Who is returning for Sweet Magnolias season 2?
Again, Netflix hasn't confirmed season 2's cast list just yet, but it seems likely that most, if not all, of the show's cast will be back. Sweet Magnolias' core trio of friends — Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott), and Helen (Heather Headley) — are definitely returning. And you can bet that their love interests — Bill (Chris Klein), Cal (Justin Bruening), Erik (Dion Johnstone), and Ronnie (Brandon Quinn) — will be back, as well. Additionally, it seems safe to say the show's teens will be back, despite the dramatic car crash cliffhanger.
Less certain is the return of Jamie Lynn Spears' Noreen, who left town after realizing Bill wouldn't commit to her and their baby fully. Hopefully, Spears will be able to appear in at least a couple of episodes, so that Maddie's kids can meet their new sibling, but with actors still needing to quarantine before filming, a guest appearance may not be in the cards this time around.
What will happen in Sweet Magnolias season 2?
In terms of the plot, the show's writers are keeping quiet about what viewers can expect from season 2, but fans will definitely find out who was in the car with Kyle early on. That particular cliffhanger is haunting fans and the cast, especially since the accident isn't a plotline drawn from the books.
"I remember the last time we read the final episode. And we all kind of looked at Sheryl [Anderson] and said, 'OK, so who's in the car?' And she just looked at us and smiled and said, 'If we ever get a second season, God help us, I'll tell you then.' And I was like, 'You're joking, right? You are joking.' And she was like, 'Yeah, I'm not telling you,'" Headley told Parade in a November 2020 interview.
However, it seems the crash isn't the only major event that will come out of prom night. Showrunner Sheryl Anderson teased to Parade, "The surprises of prom night don't end at the accident site."
Outside of the teen's crash-related drama, season 2 is also likely to address Isaac's quest to find his birth parents, Helen's determination to have a child of her own, and Maddie's difficult decision about whether or not she should give Bill a second chance after he cheated on her.
For now, only Anderson knows what's going to happen next on Sweet Magnolias, but with a little luck, viewers might get all the answers they crave before the end of 2021.