‘Dead to Me’ Renewed for Season 2 at Netflix

Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini will return for a second season of Dead to Me on Netflix, the streaming service announced Monday, June 3.

During the streamer’s For Your Consideration Emmy panel, it announced that Liz Feldman’s dark comedy is officially returning for season 2. Leads, Applegate and Cardellini will reprise their roles as friends-turned-enemies-turned-friends again Jen and Judy, respectively. It’s unclear if James Marsden will return for Season 2.

Despite the fact that Netflix does not release viewership data like cable TV, Dead to Me has become a critical darling and stands as a potential awards season player. With an 87 percent rating among critics and a 93 percent audience score on RottenTomatoes.com, it’s hard not to be impressed.

Hailing from CBS TV Studios, Dead to Me is executive produced by Gloria Sanchez Productions’ Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Christie Smith, who manages creator and showrunner Feldman, also executive produces alongside Gloria Sanchez’s Jessica Elbaum. Applegate is also credited as an EP on the series, which serves as her first TV role in seven years.

Applegate told The Hollywood Reporter that Feldman, known for shows like The Ellen Show and 2 Broke Girls, talked her out of “semi-retirement” to join the show.

“It literally took them like dragging me out of my semi-retirement, because I was very happy with my kind of not showering life and doing what I want, and just raising my daughter,” Applegate said. “So, what was it? It was a lot of things. It was really a unique premise and show, and I had known Liz Feldman and really loved her as a human being. I feel like if I’m going to be doing anything, if you’re going to take me away from my kids for three months, it better be with an amazing group of people that are of quality and are kind, smart and interesting.

She continued, admitting that she first thought Feldman wanted her to audition for the part of Judy.

“I read the script and immediately I thought they wanted me for Judy. I was like, ‘What a great character, it’s a little bit less work. I don’t need to be the star. I don’t want to be star of anything.’ And Liz was like, ‘Oh no, you’re not a Judy, you’re a Jen.’ How do I take that? ‘You are a Jen.’ Like so, I’m an angry drunk? And then I was like, ‘Oh, you know what, you’re right. This is totally me.’”

Dead to Me follows Applegate as Jen, a woman who recently lost her husband as well as her grip on reality. She befriends another member of her grief support group, Judy (Cardellini) and the two change one another’s lives — even if it’s not for the better.

As for that dramatic season finale, Applegate told THR that “it’s not what you think.”

“What you see at the end is possibly not what you think. So that’s what we’re going to kind of tackle for the next season, assuming there is a next,” she said at the time.

Dead to Me is available to stream on Netflix.