Archive 81 Season 2 Is Part Of The Plan, But It's Not Confirmed Yet

Spoilers for "Archive 81" season 1 ahead.

Since its debut on January 14, Netflix's horror thriller series "Archive 81" has been the talk of social media. It's engineered to generate questions: The TV adaptation of the podcast concerns itself with a long lost occult film, a California apartment building with history and secrets, a comet, ritual sacrifice, and portals. Those who have binged the show over the holiday weekend may be champing at the bit for more, and we're here to tell you to keep those fingers crossed.

Writer-executive producer Rebecca Sonnenshine acts as showrunner for "Archive 81," which centers on archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), who takes a vaguely ominous gig restoring a collection of damaged videotape footage from 1994. As he painstakingly reconstructs the video, he tumbles into the world of documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) as she investigates a dangerous cult. As Dan goes further down the rabbit hole, he sees his chance to save her from her fate, and possibly redeem himself following a decades-old tragedy that continues to haunt him. /Film's Chris Evangelista observed that "there's a sort of spooky charm to be had in the series' devotion to piecing together paraphernalia and trying to find some sanity buried beneath madness."

Sonnenshine spoke to Entertainment Weekly and while the "The Boys" writer didn't confirm anything official coming around the bend, she does talk about the end of Season 1 (yes, she confirms, Dan really is stuck in the mid-'90s) and teases that there's plenty more where that came from. Asked if there will be a Season 2, Sonnenfield replies:

"I hope so, but I actually have no idea. But I hope so. It was always meant to keep going. We are always thinking about season 2."

The show is heavily referential to Danté's Divine Comedy, what with its Danté avatar lead Dan T. and supporting duo Virgil and Beatriz — and that's not to mention the Kharon figure, a nod to the legendary ferryman of Hell. So it's no spoiler to say that Dan T. was always going to be headed into a pretty dark place from the jump. The series is based on an original podcast of the same name; "Archive 81" spooked audiences for three seasons following its launch in 2018. Billing itself as a show "about ritual, stories, and sound," the fictional podcast was co-created by Marc Sollinger and Daniel Powell, who also serve as co-producers on the Netflix adapted series. The series stars Athie, Shihabi, Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chan, Ariana Neal, Matt McGorry, and Martin Donovan. Rebecca Sonnenshine executive produces "Archive 81" alongside James Wan, Michael Clear, and Rob Hackett of Atomic Monster ("Malignant"), Rebecca Thomas, Antoine Douaihy, Paul Harris Boardman, Evan Bleiweiss, and Michael Narducci.

"Archive 81" season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.