HBO has renewed women-led Spanish series Rage, the company announced Wednesday morning.
In unveiling the series’ renewal, HBO head of originals Sarah Aubrey sung its praises, saying she relates to it “because it’s about women’s rage,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. “It has all those beautiful, fun, snappy visuals and a real sense of humor, and we’re thrilled to be picking up a season two of it,” she added.
Created by Félix Sabroso, Rage is a contemporary portrait of five women willing to do anything in extreme situations such as extortion, oppression, deception, exclusion, or manipulation in a single shared, contemporary universe, articulated around five conflicts that will unfold like a butterfly effect, one as a consequence of the other, according to an official synopsis.
The show’s second season will hit screens next year and will return with a new group of actresses, as well as several cast members from the first season, though HBO did not elaborate on who would fill those roles.
The move comes as HBO is eyeing Europe as fertile ground to establish itself as a strong player in that region’s television business. That follows other major streamers who have begun to pivot toward developing original content for international markets. Disney+, for instance, recently said it is looking to develop more comedies for the British market following the success of its show Rivals.
Speaking at the Content London industry conference, where Disney+ made its announcement, Aubrey laid out HBO Max‘s own timeline for its planned international expansion, with market launches in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein coming on January 13, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rage is the streamer’s third most popular show in Spain behind House of the Dragon and The Last of Us. Explaining the decision to refresh the series with a brand new storyline for the second season, creator Sabroso said “I think Rage has a very authentic perspective, and it was riskier and more honest to offer new ideas so that the story could continue with the same strength. Even so, I don’t want to lose some of the most beloved characters from the first season.”
Actresses Carmen Machi (Pubertat, The Bar), Candela Peña (The Asunta Case, Princesses), Cecilia Roth (The Messiah, Labyrinth of Passion), Nathalie Poza (Daniela Forever, Julieta), and Pilar Castro (Zorras, Fat People) starred in the series’ first season, which scored an Ondas Award for best actress for the collective performances of the five leading women, as well as nominations for best comedy series and best series screenplay at the Feroz Awards.