From a media release:
Production Begins on Season 2 of Critically-Acclaimed Space Original Series ORPHAN BLACK
- From Temple Street Productions, ORPHAN BLACK is produced in partnership with Space and BBC America, with Season 2 set to premiere in April 2014
- ORPHAN BLACK stars Tatiana Maslany, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Dylan Bruce, and Jordan Gavaris
Space, BBC America, and Temple Street Productions announced today that filming has begun on Season 2 of the hit conspiracy clone thriller, ORPHAN BLACK. Premiering in March 2013, ORPHAN BLACK had the highest Original Series debut ever for Space, with an average of 513,000 viewers. Season 1 amassed a loyal following reaching 4.3 million Canadians, and ended on a high note with an average audience of 328,000. Anchored by Critics’ Choice Television Award and Television Critics Association Award-winner Tatiana Maslany (Picture Day), the 10-episode, one-hour drama shoots on location and in studio in Toronto until February 2014.
Season 2 hits the ground running with Sarah in a desperate race to find her missing daughter. Her scorched earth tactics spark a war with Rachel (Maslany), dividing and imperilling all the clones. As Sarah gets closer to her own origin story, several mysterious newcomers appear, but nobody can be trusted.
Maslany, who to date has portrayed seven different characters (Sarah, Beth, Katja, Alison, Cosima, Helena, and Rachel), is joined by returning principal cast Jordan Gavaris (UNNATURAL HISTORY) as Felix, Sarah’s foster brother; Gemini Award-winner Maria Doyle Kennedy (DOWNTON ABBEY) as Mrs. S, Sarah and Felix’s hard-nosed working class foster mother; Dylan Bruce (NCIS) as Paul, Beth’s boyfriend with a secret linked to his army days in Afghanistan; Kevin Hanchard (REPUBLIC OF DOYLE) as Art, a veteran detective; Michael Mando (THE KILLING) as Vic, Sarah’s sporadically violent ex; and Skyler Wexler (ALPHAS) as Kira, Sarah’s seven-year-old daughter. Additional casting for the series will be announced soon.
Since its premiere, ORPHAN BLACK has been praised by critics and loved by fans. Noted as a “surprisingly thrilling new drama†(The AV.Club) and “flat out, one of the most intriguingly entertaining new series of the year†(The Hollywood Reporter), Maslany’s performance on the series also stood out, garnering her a Critics’ Choice Television Award for Best Dramatic Actress, a Television Critics Association Award for Individual Achievement in Drama, and an EWwy Award for Best Actress from Entertainment Weekly readers.
The first season of ORPHAN BLACK is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD throughout Canada and is also available for purchase on iTunes. Viewers can continue to catch-up on the first season which is currently airing Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.
ORPHAN BLACK is executive produced by Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier (BEING ERICA), Graeme Manson (Cube, FLASHPOINT) and John Fawcett (SPARTACUS, GINGER SNAPS). The series is co-created by Manson and Fawcett, with Manson also serving as writer and Fawcett as director. BBC Worldwide distributes the series internationally.
Hell Yeah !
“Press Release Math” always seems different than the math taught in school. Where does 4.3 million come from when the peak ratings were about 0.5 million? How does it end on a “high” when the finale ratings was about 3/5ths of the premiere? Obviously, none of this takes away from the series’ critical acclaim or genuine fandom (holding on to 3/5ths of your opening audience can be okay), but press releases are more about spin doctoring than information.
I guess what concerns me is that in the attempt to boost their series, they end up raising expectations too high. Part of OB’s success was as the little show that came out of nowhere — the underdog. Now it’s got all these unrealistic expectations it has to live up to. I’m thinking about Copper (also BBC America) which was praised to the ceiling in season one, and cancelled after season two.
Press release math would be a graduate-level course. I’m guessing the reach includes peak viewing on the CTV run. The only ratings expectations that matter are the networks so if they want to spin, whatever.
To be fair, the success of Orphan Black partially did Copper in. Canadian televised science fiction is a hot commodity right now, what with OB, Continuum, and Lost Girl‘s successes. Bitten was recently sold to Syfy. It’s a genre that Canada invests heavily in, and I don’t blame BBC America for wanting a piece of that action.
“Reach” refers to the number of people who watched a show for at least x number of minutes. It’s a cume, meant to woo advertisers. I agree, the ratings are high enough that including the show’s “reach” is a bit much.
This is NOT available on DVD in Canada until December 2013. Major mistake. In order to boost tv ratings they delayed this release by 6 months. I was planning to buy 3/4 copies for friends/ family if it had been released at same time as America.
You’re right according to Amazon.ca – obvious mistake in the media release too then.
And you should have seen what they put up on iTunes! Instead of just using the encoding sold in the US store they put up a new version and it had about as much attention to detail paid to its encoding as the press release had to the math and DVD availability. There were comments along the lines of “it is a great show even if the quality of the files being sold is poor”. One day all of those comments were magically purged. Interlacing, blended frames, and audio synchronisation issues were to be found in almost every episode of the initial release in the Canadian iTunes store.
Given the history of BD releases in Canada i do wonder if Canada will only see a DVD release of Orphan Black despite the claims of this press release. Have you seen Saving Hope or The Listener or the second through fifth seasons of Flashpoint on BD?