'Scrublands' Renewed for Season 2

The Western Australian series Scrublands is officially coming back for a second season, as Australian streaming service Stan releases the first image now that filming is underway. Based on Chris Hammer’s debut novel of the same name, the series was one of those lost in the niche streaming services owned by AMC Networks here in the States, technically debuting as a Sundance Now series, but co-streaming on AMC+, which at least has a decent subscriber base. However, despite the series not gaining much traction over here (at least not yet), STAN found itself a hit and is proceeding with a new season, once again based on a Hammer novel.

Season 2 will adapt the second novel in the Martin Scarsden series, Silver, which arrived a year after Scrublands was originally published in 2018. Luke Arnold, best known in the States for starring in Black Sails, returns to reprise his role as Scarsden, the investigative journalist turned amateur detective. Season 1 featured the character's first case, where he is initially sent to write a "One Year On" in a small town where a mass shooting took place. Of course, upon arriving, he discovers nothing about the case as he understood it is true, and within the first episode or two, the real antagonist is revealed. The series, which ran eight episodes, wound up more of a thriller than a whodunit, as Scarsden works to prove who the real guilty party is.

Season 2 sends Scarsden back to his hometown, thinking of his mystery-solving adventures behind him. How wrong he is.