One of the most bizarre TV series to ever air since David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks: The Return,” and certainly one of the oddest shows of this decade, is Showtime’s “The Curse,” which could potentially have more in store.
Created by deadpan comedian Nathan Fielder (“Nathan For You,” “The Rehearsal”) and filmmaker Benny Safdie (“Uncut Gems”) and starring Fielder and Emma Stone (both of them also executive producers along with Safdie), “The Curse,” which premiered last fall on Showtime, is a satirical black comedy thriller. The series, which we called “hilarious cringe and excruciating” in our review, centers on a newlywed couple (Fielder and Stone) struggling to make their HG-TV-esque show while trying to conceive a baby. Their vision for an eco-living reality in a small New Mexico town is further thwarted by their eccentric and sensation-seeking TV producer (played by Safdie).
Spoilers ahead for “The Curse,” in case you didn’t watch the first season.
Consisting of ten one-hour episodes in the surreal, inexplicable, and discomfiting series—that was weird, but up until this point, not at all sci-fi-ish— the finale features a hilariously bizarre ending where the laws of gravity cease to work, and Fielder’s Asher character is blown into space.
But in a new THR cover story on the series, Stone and Fielder revealed there could be more, and they had “mapped out” more than one season when they initially pitched the idea to Showtime (who bought it knowing its outlandish ending, too)
“There could be,” Stone said coyly. “There definitely could be. From the start, we had it mapped out beyond the first season,” Fielder added.
Would his character Asher be involved, given that he has, well seemingly died by being blown into space? “I don’t want to spoil it,” Fielder responded.
And that’s all we know and will get from the pair, but the idea of a season two of “The Curse” is certainly fascinating. The show was arguably a required taste; a big hit with critics (90% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences were apparently confused and didn’t know what to make of it (a Rotten audience score).
Still, it at least had one fan in Christopher Nolan, who genuinely appreciated its strangeness.
“It’s an incredible show, and it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television before,” he said in a Q&A he hosted for the series earlier this year. “There are so few shows that come along that have genuinely no precedence. You’re going back to things like ‘Twin Peaks,’ or ‘The Prisoner,’ or Dennis Potter’s ‘Singing Detective’ and things like that, so you’re in an amazing space, and I can’t wait to catch up with the climax.”
A season two seems improbable, but stranger things have happened, so fingers crossed.