The Afterparty Season 2: Everything We Know So Far

Haven't you heard? Murder mysteries are all the rage now! In what I'm unofficially dubbing as the "Knives Out" Effect™, it seems as if the Rian Johnson-directed smash hit suddenly woke up the entire industry and made studios realize the obvious truth that many of us knew all along. Believe it or not, audiences absolutely love a good ol' fashioned yarn where some poor victim bites the dust and we're left with a slew of suspicious characters who may have committed the crime — all while a genius and quirky detective attempts to stay one step ahead of both the perpetrator (and us viewers, as well).

Whether it's Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot or Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc or Tiffany Haddish's Detective Danner on the Apple TV+ series "The Afterparty," we can rest assured that our heroes will likely solve the mystery at the very last minute in the most shocking, dramatic, but satisfying way. That's exactly what happened in season 1 of the Christopher Miller-created original series "The Afterparty," which combined the anxieties of high school reunions, an absolutely killer cast (pun 100% intended), and nine wildly different episodes delving into various different genres to deliver one of the most talked-about shows in the last year.

Though the central mystery surrounding the murder of Dave Franco's obnoxious Xavier was solved in the season finale — spoiler: it was the guy most everyone suspected all along — Apple didn't even let the first season finish before giving the green light for a second season.

On paper, a whodunit series from the filmmaking tandem of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, starring a murderer's row of acting talent (yep, the puns are unfortunately still coming), and revolving around every character's incredibly disparate recollection of the same night (think "Rashomon," but with much more alcohol involved) sounds like a no-brainer. Thankfully, this series managed to live up to its potential and quickly become one of the more entertaining water-cooler shows in this new streaming age.

For those who may not have been paying close attention, Apple TV+ has somewhat surprisingly turned into one of the more reliable platforms for high-quality, original, and filmmaker-friendly projects. Released in weekly installments to keep audiences strung along as the series barreled towards its conclusion, "The Afterparty" further proved the value of subscribing to the streaming service, while also showing how the binge model might not be the one-size-fits-all panacea that certain other platforms may think.

In any case, no premiere date for season 2 of "The Afterparty" has yet been revealed. Given the extraordinarily jam-packed schedules for Lord and Miller (both of whom are currently busy writing and producing "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse") and that of the returning cast members, not to mention the rather complicated production and post-production for this particular series, we wouldn't expect to see "The Afterparty" to return to our screens until sometime in 2023.

While precise plot details remain under wraps for where this story will take many of the returning characters next and when we'll get to see it, we do have a little more clarity about what season 2 will be loosely about. Our favorite group of infighting former classmates with, apparently, the worst luck in the world will find themselves caught up in yet another murder. This time, the main setting will be located at a wedding, as revealed previously.

Granted, those plot details are still a bit vague. Hilariously enough, Christopher Miller himself seems resolute to keep it that way. In a recent video interview with Gold Derby, Miller at least went out of his way to debunk one popular rumor about whose wedding it might be. As he put it:

"I can tease that it is not Zoë and Aniq's wedding. It is another person's. I'm here to drop that new. Exclusive: It is not Zoë and Aniq's wedding. They are attending a wedding where a murder happens."

Zoë and Aniq, of course, ended the first season with romance in the air after finally acknowledging their long-developing (and long-delayed) feelings for each other since their high school years. While viewers may anticipate that the pair will remain together once next season kicks off – not least of all because of the comedy gold that will result from Zoë's insecure ex-husband Brett — some other unlucky couple will have their wedding ruined by a pesky murder.

Perhaps one of the greatest strengths of "The Afterparty" came from the cast of fully fleshed out characters who made this particular high school reunion so compelling in the first place. Dave Franco's loathsome but inexplicably famous Xavier likely won't return (although we can't discount the possibility of more flashbacks, perhaps) after getting pushed off the balcony of his own mansion and falling to his death, kicking off the events of the series. Likewise, Ben Schwartz's musical-loving Yasper will also remain a longshot to return, given his long-simmering grudge against Xavier that finally boiled over into outright murder. Unless his (former) best friend Aniq pays him a visit in jail, Joker-style, we wouldn't expect to see him return, either.

Otherwise, we know that Tiffany Haddish's Detective Danner will once again find her services required in investigating another suspect-laden murder. Both Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao will reprise their roles as Aniq and Zoë, respectively. But viewers will also get to know a bevy of newcomers, such as Zach Woods ("The Office," "Silicon Valley") as a character named Edgar, Elizabeth Perkins ("Sharp Objects," "Weeds") as Isabel, Poppy Liu ("Dead Ringers," "Hacks," "Better Call Saul") as Grace, Paul Walter Hauser ("Black Bird," "Cruella") as Travis, Anna Konkle ("Pen15") as Hannah, Jack Whitehall ("Clifford The Big Red Dog," "Jungle Cruise") as Sebastian, and Vivian Wu ("Away," "Dead Pigs") as Vivian.

Oh, and there'll be a couple of major additions between Ken Jeong as Feng and John Cho as Ulysses.