One of Netflix’s best shows in a bit is Dept. Q, the Matthew Goode thriller based on a series of books that examines cold cases and the detective’s own personality defects. The show has gotten great critic and audience scores, but viewership analysis is inconclusive, and while there is cast excitement about potentially getting a season 2, we haven’t seen anything from the Netflix side.
Until now.
TVLine reports that Netflix has now submitted Dept. Q into the Emmy race for Best Drama Series. The show landed just two days before the cut-off for submission, and Netflix submitted it just under the wire. It’s similar to the late release of Baby Reindeer, the limited series that went on to win a slew of Emmys.
I have my doubts that in an incredibly crowded year that includes Severance, The Pitt, White Lotus, The Last of Us and even Andor that Dept. Q would land the award. Or if Matthew Goode would get a statue over say, The Pitt’s Noah Wyle. But that’s not the point.
The point is that if Netflix is submitting this series for Emmy consideration, it thinks the show is high-quality, and that is a clear indication of a second season renewal. It’s difficult to cite a Netflix series submitted for an Emmy like this that ended up cancelled after that happened. I can’t think of one. If it happened, it was likely a show that had already run for multiple seasons.
Given all this information, I would expect to hear about a season 2 renewal for Dept. Q any day now. As a further update, here’s the Dept. Q showrunner Scott Frank, who previously did the monster hit The Queen’s Gambit for Netflix, on the prospect of a second season:
‘I’ve got a great idea for a second season. It is another cold case and also a current case, at the same time, that they’re looking into. So, I would do that.”
However, he may slim down the episode count next time:
“I might just do six next time. We’ll see. But I do know what I want to do next. I do have the story in mind for the next season.”
I would agree that nine episodes may have stretched out the first season a little too long, even as I would often complain that many shows have gotten too short. For a series like this, it just felt a little prolonged. But of course, overall it was a great first season, and everyone is excited to see more. And there will almost certainly be more now, based on this recent development.
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