Not only is the Freeform show Siren coming back for a second season, but the ante has also been upped. According to TVLine, Freeform ordered the fantasy-based show for 16 episodes — an increase from this year's 10. So when is Season 2 of Siren?
According to IMDB, the show didn't premiere until late March of this year, so it'll likely come back to Freeform around the same time in 2019, barring any changes of plan. But other than that speculation, there's not much to go on regarding when the show will come back — Freeform hasn't made an official announcement. It's no surprise that the show gets a second season, though — according to the same TVLine piece, Siren averaged 670,000 total viewers so far in its season, up to May 15, when the piece was published, and it's even the most-watched show on Freeform at all. And, according to the same piece, it's the top new cable drama among the demographics of women 18-34 and 12-34.
Even a quick peek online displays just how psyched fans are for the show to continue on. "This brought a pretty good smile and fist pump to me at work," wrote Reddit user Pork-Roll, in a thread about the show's renewal. "Way to go Freeform, I'm so happy about this!" wrote another user, Kishara.
The show is certainly not like anything else currently on TV, even though it has roots in a kind of young adult fantasy drama that always has intrigue among viewers. Siren is set in Bristol Cove, a fictional coastal town filled with legends of mermaids. Then, to the surprise of a marine biologist, one actually shows up. The show dives deep into what these fictional creatures actually are, in its mind, and it was the plan all along to take a different route than classic fairy tale mermaids, per Collider.
"I think it’s always exciting and interesting to reinvent a classic mythology. I remember when I first saw [Christopher] Nolan’s Batman. We’d certainly had more comic book versions of it, but it was unique and fresh and exciting," executive producer Eric Wald told Collider. "Mermaids have had specific depictions, over the years, so it was fun to flip that on its head. I also wanted to go really deep with what this mythology could be and have almost a scientific, biological take on it. They really feel like oceanic predators."
One of the stars of the show, Rena Owen, said that Siren's unique take on mermaids is exactly what drew her to the show. "I’ve seen shows set in a coastal community, but I had never seen one about mermaids — and I mean top level predator mermaids," she told FanSided.com. "Not nice little fluffy mermaids or little Barbie mermaids, these were top level predators. I’ve never seen anything like it."
Wald also said in the above interview with Collider that he wanted to take the themes of Jaws, the classic shark horror film, and mesh it together with a Pirates of the Caribbean adventure vibe. Siren definitely is reminiscent of Jaws, particularly because they both take place in a coastal town filled with people just trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and that was purposeful. "Jaws is one of my favorite movies. I just loved the depiction. It worked so well as a monster movie, but really, it’s a great portrait of a town and these people," Wald said. "It was written by a comedy writer, so there’s real humor to it. It just has it all. To me, it’s the perfect piece of entertainment."
It seems like Siren has taken this plan and hit the mark with viewers, especially with those bananas ratings and buzz already brewing for Season 2. Its first batch of episodes ends on May 24 at 8 p.m., but fans can rest assured that more underwater drama is coming up soon.
