’13 Reasons Why’ Season 2 Sexual Assault Plot Details Revealed

The second season of popular Netflix series 13 Reasons Why is just weeks away, and the first details of the plot are being revealed.

Though the debut season of the original series, one of Netflix’s most successful original series of all-time, told the story of Hannah Baker and the 13 reasons that led her to commit suicide, the stories of several other characters were unraveled, including the story of a string of sexual assaults at Liberty High School. According to creator Brian Yorkey, those sexual assaults and the stories of the survivors will play heavily in season two, which will show what it is like to “go from being a victim of sexual assault to being a survivor of sexual assault”

“We look at the ways that sexual assault has been perpetrated over a number of years and has been in fact documented, and also the ways in which the institutions — the athletic department, the high school itself — are in some ways complicit in letting that happen,” Yorkey told The Hollywood Reporter.

As fans of the series will remember, throughout the course of the first season it was revealed that school bully and co-captain of the Liberty High football and baseball teams, Bryce Walker, was hiding a dark secret. He became Hannah’s 12th reason for committing suicide after he raped her at a party at his home, while also hiding the fact that he had sexually assaulted Jessica Davis.

“I once read something online where someone said, ‘Well, Jessica told her dad she was raped so her story is over.’ I remember thinking that right there is reason enough to do a season two, because her story is just beginning — her experience continues to be a central part of season two,” Yorkey said.

While sexual assault is a major theme of the season, Yorkey also revealed that recovery is another theme that will play out.

“Recovery is a central theme for us. So many of these kids had been through traumatic experiences. Both due to Hannah’s death and also independent of that and just as a part of their lives, and we wanted to begin to see them start back on the road toward wellness and wholeness and see what that looks like in the sense that recovery is not a straight line and it’s not a simple process. That’s a central theme of the season,” he said.

As the company previously revealed, season two will explore the lives of Hannah’s classmates and how her actions affected them. A recent teaser clip for the second season suggests season 2 may be told through photographs. It has also been suggested that the show’s new narrator could be Tyler Down, who was the subject of Tape 2, Side B of Hannah’s tapes and is in Liberty High School’s photography department.

13 Reasons Why season 2 will be available for streaming beginning May 18. Fans can catch up on all episodes of season 1, which are currently available for streaming on Netflix.