Floor Is Lava Season 2 - What We Know So Far

A few months into the Covid-19 pandemic, Netflix debuted "Floor is Lava," a seemingly silly gameshow that, uncannily and yet understandably, became an instantaneous hit with its house-bound audience. The show, which is two parts "American Ninja Warrior" and three parts childhood flashback, asks teams of three compete in an obstacle course resembling a Dali-meets-Tim-Burton-esque room filled with furniture and decor pieces floating in "lava." The goal is exactly what you'd expect: leap, climb, flop, swing, or flail from the safety of one object to the next, and make it to the other side of the room without falling into the pit of bright red bubbling lava. 

Part of the show's appeal lies in its creative, absurdist reimagining of a game the pre-and-early internet generation grew up playing in their own homes (the same nostalgic appeal that made "True American" from "New Girl" so comically familiar, despite the fact that its rules were never fully explained). However, an even larger key to the show's success comes from its host, Rutledge Wood ("Top Gear USA," "Southern and Hungry"), an Alabama native whose improvisation skills, ability to banter, and willingness to lean into a few Dad Jokes made him an instant hit with viewers. It's a show that's at once family-friendly and addictive, and unlike other obstacle course gameshows (read: "American Ninja Warrior"), it doesn't require that its contestants train year-round in their own Cross Fit studios. 

Now that Season 1 has come and gone, when can the series' barrage of fans expect a Season 2? 

"Floor is Lava" owes a major percent of its success to the creative design teams behind its obstacle course "rooms." Season 1 challenged contestants with an epic array of surreal interiors, charting courses through basements, bedrooms, kitchens, studies, and planetariums, none of which look anything like the kind you might have played in as a child. Irad Eyal and Megan McGrath — the series' executive producers and creators — spoke at-length with Vulture's Clint Worthington about the inspiration behind their set designs and what goes into bring them to life. Using "theme parks and adventure films," as well as video games, for inspiration, Eyal and McGrath initially imagined something akin to a natural history museum, but in a no holds barred setting where players could "do all the things that you could never do at a real museum." Over time, this became "a mansion with differently themed rooms, tied together by the fact that they're all flooded with lava." 

Although the creators haven't dropped much in the way of hints regarding Season 2's room design, those who tuned in to Netflix's global fan event, Tudum, were treating to a brand new set, which Wood compared to director Mike Flanagan's "The Haunting of Hill House." If Tudum's haunted set bears any resemblance to what fans can expect to see in Season 2, it appears the show will be upping the anti in terms of further curating its themes. 

As Eyal told Cinema Blend, (referring to props that didn't make it into Season 1) "There's a warehouse out there somewhere in the world that's like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark [...] and we're hoping we can sort of unlock that and open up those crates and bring them back." So far, it sounds as if Season 2 will be a delightfully absurdist blend of mood heavy rooms and those aforementioned "adventure movies."