There's Reason To Hope For More 'Mad Dogs'

It's early in the year (incredibly early in the year), so it's probably too soon to tell, but judging by some early reactions, dark comedy Mad Dogs, from writer Shawn Ryan, might end up being Amazon's 2016 breakout series. Before you get too invested in the action-packed series, it's worth wondering — will there be a Mad Dogs Season 2? Amazon has not yet announced any additional seasons of the show, which makes sense since audiences haven't even gotten a chance to check out the whole first season yet, as it premieres on Jan. 22. But the pilot episode of the series is already available to Prime subscribers, as part of the streaming network's "pilot season" system.

The pilot is a real thrill ride, and for lack of a better comparison, kind of like a cross between Lost and Entourage... and I promise, I mean that in a good way. Essentially, a group of friends is invited by the wealthiest member of the group to stay in South America on an all expenses paid trip that seems too good to be true — because it is. Once the wealthy benefactor (played by Titanic villain Billy Zane, no less!) winds up dead, the rest of his pals go on the run in hopes of avoiding being pinned with his murder.

Mad Dogs was picked up for a full season back in February 2015, so it took a while to produce — and Amazon tends to take its time with original series. Mozart in the Jungle premiered its second season almost exactly a year after its first, and Transparent actually took a little longer than a year. So if Mad Dogs is eventually renewed, you can probably expect it to premiere in early 2017.

From the pilot, Mad Dogs seems less nakedly emotional than Transparent and less ambitious than The Man In the High Castle, but even so, it might be another one of the streaming service's successful series. I don't want to get too hyped on a series that could totally go off the rails before the end of the first season, but the reviews have been positive, calling the show a thriller that will impress viewers with the cast's journey through the tropical and treacherous Belizean landscape as they attempt to evade blame for the murder.

And if the show really is that good, surely it will be invited back for more. Mad Dogs is adapted from a British series of the same name, and even though the premise of a group of friends on the run from the police may seem like it doesn't have a lot of steam, the British series managed to extend it to four seasons by adding some twists.

However, those four seasons only had 14 episodes in total. But given American TV's ability to take a small inspiration and spin it into an epic yarn — like, say, Fargo has over the past two seasons — that there should be plenty of ways for Mad Dogs to continue its story into 2017 if viewers catch on and Amazon orders a second season.