'Vinyl' Will Return, But With Some Changes

Fans of HBO's Vinyl are lucky. The show was renewed for a second season shortly after its premiere episode aired, as reported by Deadline. There was no waiting around with baited breath, wondering if it would return; there was no questioning whether the episode airing on April 17 would be a season finale or a series finale. Now there's only one question that remains: When will Vinyl Season 2 premiere?

Unfortunately, that's where Vinyl fans will have to wait in suspense. HBO has not yet announced a return date for the series. It's a good bet, though, that it'll come back again in winter 2017. The first season premiered in February, and HBO is pretty consistent when it comes to scheduling.

However, there is one development that might me a delay for the show: Co-creator Terence Winter will no longer be the series' showrunner. According to Entertainment Weekly, HBO put out a statement saying, "As we head into the second season of Vinyl, we have decided it is an appropriate time to make a change in the creative direction of the show. We have enjoyed a longtime partnership with Terry Winter at HBO on projects from The Sopranos to Boardwalk Empire to Vinyl, and we look forward to our next collaboration with him."

In the same article, EW reported that Scott Z. Burns, frequent Steven Soderbergh collaborator, is taking over the reins as showrunner. Burns has written scripts for Soderbergh's Side Effects, Contagion, and The Informant! He's also no stranger to jumping into projects mid-stream, since he wrote the screenplay for The Bourne Ultimatum, the third movie in the Jason Bourne franchise.

Before Burns took over, Winter had discussed some ideas for Season 2 of Vinyl in a Deadline interview. "If it happens, the series will progress in time like Boardwalk did," he told Deadline of a second season before the series had officially been renewed. "So, we’ll probably move forward into 1974 when we come back ... In terms of Richie’s story, without spoiling what happens at the end of the season, he’s still alive, I’ll give you that much, and moving forward, he’s really on a quest to make good his desire to find something new and do something that makes an impact in this business you know?"

It's unclear whether Winter's vision for Season 2 will still happen, or if Burns and company are going to start from scratch and take the series in a whole new direction. Even if it's the latter, it's still possible to get Vinyl Season 2 off the ground in time for a winter 2017 debut. But we'll all have to wait and see when the needle will drop.

Images: Patrick Harbron/HBO; Giphy (2)