news Hold on to Your Bonnets: ‘Sanditon’ Renewed for Two Seasons on PBS

It’s wild when a fan movement works, isn’t it?

On Thursday, Masterpiece on PBS announced that it had renewed “Sanditon,” the ITV series based on Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel, for not one — but two — seasons.

The news comes after an extensive fan driven online campaign for the show, starring Rose Williams as the heroine Charlotte Heywood, to be continued. It just goes to prove that greenlighting a show for a single season and ending with a bodice-ripping cliffhanger (“What do you MEAN she just rides off in the carriage after he came after her?!?”) can sometimes be a smart business decision.

According to the announcement: “Sanditon, the fan favorite drama based on Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel and developed by Emmy® and BAFTA-Award winning writer Andrew Davies, has been renewed with the double order following its successful run in the U.S. on Masterpiece. BritBox UK has boarded the show as a co-producer and will premiere the series as a BritBox Original in the UK. The new seasons of Sanditon have been acquired by ITV, which originally launched the first series in 2019, and will air on the channel following the premiere window on BritBox UK.

Justin Young (“Death in Paradise,” “Ripper Street”), who wrote four episodes of the first season of Sanditon, will develop the new seasons and take the role of lead writer and executive producer. Andrew Davies, who originally created the series, will also return to write several episodes and executive produce.”

A key omission from the announcement, however, is who will make up the rest of the cast of the next two seasons besides Williams. There is no mention of Theo James returning as Charlotte’s love interest, Sydney Parker, so gather ye rosebuds while ye may, “Sanditon” fans. (IndieWire has asked PBS for comment.)

“We are absolutely delighted to announce a second and third season of Sanditon, a show that has inspired such a passionate and devoted fan base,” says Masterpiece executive producer Susanne Simpson said in a statement. “Audiences can expect romance, humor and plenty of twists and turns in these new seasons of Sanditon.”

According to Masterpiece, filming will begin later this year around Bristol, in England.
 
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