‘P-Valley’: Why Has Season 2 Been Delayed?
Fans have been enraptured with P-Valley since its debut in 2020. The TV show, which is set in Chucalissa, Mississippi, follows the women dancers of the popular strip club, The Pynk and Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan), the club’s non-binary owner who treats the girls like her daughters.
Mercedes (Brandee Evans) is the club’s headliner who has big plans for retirement. Keyshawn, aka Ms. Mississippi (Shannon Thornton), is poised to take Mercedes’ spot on the main stage. Lil Murda (J. Alphonse Nicholson), is finally gaining notoriety for his music, but he’s conflicted about his sexuality. Then there is Autumn (Elarica Johnson) the club’s newcomer who is running from her past.
Though P-Valley has been renewed for season 2, why is the second season so delayed?
What will ‘P-Valley’ Season 2 be about?
Things changed quickly for Uncle Clifford and the women of The Pynk by the time season 1 ended. As we know, Autumn now co-owns The Pynk with Uncle Cifford. Mercedes’ dreams of retirement have been thwarted by her own mother. Autumn and Mercedes may have killed Autumn’s violent ex-husband and Keyshawn is still in an abusive relationship with the father of her child.
“You’re going to see a lot of things that happen outside the club this season, making it humanizing as well because everyone has a life when they go home from their job and so do these women and these men in the club as well,” Evans told Gold Derby.
Why has ‘P-Valley’ Season 2 been delayed?
Starz renewed P-Valley for a second season just three episodes into its first season which debuted in July 2020. The series has become such a success for the network that it doubled its audience over the course of the first season which was a major feat for any major television show. However, fans of P-Valley were alarmed when July 2021 came and went without any new episodes.
As TV watchers know, series usually air new seasons roughly one year a season has aired. However, the ever-evolving coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic prevented the cast and crew from filming until July 2021.
With filming underway in Atlanta, Starz has confirmed that season 2 will debut in 2022 though there is no set premiere date.
Katori Hall shared her main goal for ‘P-Valley’ Season 2
We may not be returning to The Pynk until 2022, but Hall and her cast and crew will be more than prepared when we do. Hall has spent the last year with her writers working on the scripts for the new season and as usual, the women of The Pynk are going to be able to shine in all of their humanity.
In fact, the Tina: The Tina Turner Musical playwright revealed her main goal for the second season goes beyond the characters or even the storyline itself. Hall told Indiewire,
I think it’s very easy to be wowed by the spectacle and embrace the spectacle. That’s awesome, that’s cool, glitter is important, but to understand how you do have to grit your teeth sometimes to get to the top of the pole. And for me, it’s just a metaphor for being a woman in this world point blank period. And to be able to do it and to do it with style to the point where it feels as though you’re crashing through the sky. My own experience obviously inspired me to make sure that when we lensed it and put it in front of an audience, that we use this idea of the subjective experience, this idea of the female gaze, to really put the audience up on the pole with our characters and also maybe even inside of their POV, like we were able to do it a couple of times over the first season, and hopefully, we’ll continue to do it in the second season.
