Netflix’s ‘Stay Close’ Star Addresses Season 2 Rumors

Netflix fans have been loving Stay Close, the latest Harlan Coben adaptation to hit the streamer late last month. Despite the buzzworthy ending of the first season, star Richard Armitage told HELLO! in an interview published Wednesday that he didn’t think there needed to be a follow-up season that would push the story any further. 

“Had you asked me that about The Stranger I would have said yes, you probably could do a second season but with Stay Close I think it’s closed in the end,” he told the publication. “It’s so final. There is an open-ended unresolved thing that happens, the big event is revealed!” Without going into spoilers for the finale, there definitely would have to be some revisions made to the story to squeeze a second season out of Stay Close, but Coben admitted in a December Q&A for the project that he didn’t mind changing up his original story to make a better show.

Speaking about the decision to relocate the setting from Atlantic City to the British seaside resort of Blackpool for the TV version, the author opined, “The worst TV adaptations are slavishly devoted to the [original] text,” as per Deadline. Coben added that he “hopes to continue” working with Netflix as his five-year deal signed in 2018 comes to an end.

“It’s really fun to change things around,” added Coben, who said he likes to “work with the cast of characters to move a story along.” At the time, Armitage credited Coben for “unpacking the book into a screenplay and tailoring it to the characters,” while Coben credited his daughter for improving the dialogue for the younger audience after being brought into the writers’ room. 

“She gets young people better than I do,” explained Coben. “It’s been such a cool experience being in a writing room with her, yelling and screaming at each other in a creative way.” The prolific writer continued that when his deal does come to an end in 2023, he “hasn’t thought about what’s next” but “hopes we can continue what we’ve been doing” with at least two more shows. “They’ve been great collaborators and give me freedom to work with others if I want to,” he added of Netflix. “On Dec. 31, I love the idea that someone in L.A. will push a button and 200M people in 190 countries will be able to watch my show.”

Stay Close is now streaming on Netflix. For more on the adaptations and all your streaming news, stick to PopCulture.com for the latest.