With the finale of the HBO Max limited crime series Mare of Easttown ending this past Sunday night, it left many fans grappling for more. The Kate Winslet-led (Ammonite) series was a hit and received critical acclaim across the board, with many hoping for more of the actress as the tough detective Mare Sheehan. Creator and writer of the series, Brad Ingelsby (The Way Back), offered a sliver of hope, telling The Hollywood Reporter to never say never.
A seven episode limited series, Mare of Easttown centers in on a string of disappearances and murder of young women in a small Pennsylvania town where everyone knows everyone. Mare is the big shot detective in town working tirelessly to solve the case, but is also haunted by her dark and troubled past. A stellar supporting cast including Evan Peters (American Horror Story) as county detective Colin Zabel, Julianne Nicholson (The Outsider) as Mare’s best friend Lori, and Jean Smart (Hacks) as her mother, the series pulled back the curtains on what tragedy does to a small town, and the wreckage that ensues in its aftermath.
After the last episode of Mare of Easttown aired on Sunday night, the whodunit mystery was finally put to rest, but the want for more of small town Pennsylvania with all of its rolling rock and philly cheeseteaks remained. When asked of the possibility of continuing on with the series in a second season, Ingelsby told The Hollywood Reporter, “It was written as a limited, and it ends — there’s no more mystery to be solved. Kate and I, if we could crack a story that we were really proud of and felt like it was a deserving second chapter in Mare’s journey, then maybe. I haven’t cracked that yet; I don’t know what that is, honestly. But if there was a world in which we were convinced, this is a continuation of the story that honors the first chapter and does things an audience will appreciate, then maybe. But as of right now, I have no idea what that could be.”
Winslet is very much on the same page, stating that given the opportunity, she would love to return back to the character of Mare. Talking to TVline on Monday, Winslet said, “I would absolutely love to play Mare again…I miss her. I really do. It’s the strangest thing. I feel like I’m in mourning. It was an absolutely wonderful role… There’s something very addictive about Mare, because she’s so outrageous and lovable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her.”
One of the reasons the show became such a success was due to the character of Mare, as audiences couldn’t help but fall under her spell. She was a complete original, with many saying it was refreshing to see a middle aged woman play a grumpy, messy haired, and foul mouthed detective. In an interview published in The New York Times on Monday, Winslet explained why she believed Mare struck such a chord with audiences: “Listen, I hope that in playing Mare as a middle-aged woman — I will be 46 in October — I guess that’s why people have connected with this character in the way that they have done because there are clearly no filters. She’s a fully functioning, flawed woman with a body and a face that moves in a way that is synonymous with her age and her life and where she comes from. I think we’re starved of that a bit.”