'The Alienist' Season 2 Trailer: The 19th Century Detectives Are Back To Investigate Mysterious Kidnappings

Though The Alienist was a minor summer sensation in 2017, the TNT 19th century psychological thriller remains a criminally underrated treat. A 19th century detective drama starring Dakota Fanning, Daniel Bruhl, and Luke Evans, The Alienist followed the unlikely trio as they resolved to find the culprit behind a series of child murders in 19th century New York using early methods of criminal profiling. It was macabre, creepy, and just a touch camp, which was just the right kind of combination for fans of Hannibal and True Detective looking for a new series. But The Alienist was intended as a one-season thing, until TNT renewed it for an unexpected second season that finally comes out this July. Watch The Alienist season 2 trailer below.

The gang is back together for the second season of The Alienist, titled The Alienist: Angel of Darkness, which adapts Caleb Carr's second novel in his Kreizler series, following the adventures of the titular alienist (played in the series by Daniel Bruhl) — an early term for a psychologist — as he tracks down serial killers in 19th century New York. But the trailer for Angel of Darkness gives more of the spotlight to Dakota Fanning's character Sara Howard, the aspiring policewoman who has, since the events of the first season, opened up her own detective agency. It seems that it's Sara's investigations into a string of baby kidnappings that gets the gang back together, after suffering tragedy and loss at the end of season 1.

The trailer for The Alienist season 2 brings back everything that made the first season so good: the macabre stylings, the grimy cityscape of turn-of-the-century New York City, the soapy romances between Sara Howard and permanently perplexed newspaper man John Schuyler Moore (Luke Evans). And of course, a horrifying string of child murders, beginning with a mother who is falsely convicted and killed for her baby's disappearance. I'm only mildly disappointed we don't get a glimpse of Fanning saying "h-what" with that distinct 19th century pronunciation, but otherwise, this trailer hits all the right spots.

The Alienist season 2 premieres on TNT on July 26, 2020.

The Alienist is an upcoming American drama television series based on the novel of same name by Caleb Carr. The psychological thriller drama is set in 1896, when a series of gruesome murders of boy prostitutes has gripped the city. Newly appointed top cop Teddy Roosevelt calls upon Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a criminal psychologist — aka alienist — and newspaper illustrator John Moore to conduct the investigation in secret. Joining them in the probe is Sara Howard, a headstrong secretary at Police Headquarters.