After an acclaimed but quiet run on Canadian television earlier this year, CTV's Cardinal will make its way to U.S. audiences when it arrives on Hulu this Friday. But before you settle in for a new marathon, you may want to know what you're investing in. So, will Cardinal return for Season 2?
Why yes, it will indeed, though a premiere date has yet to be announced. According to The Hollywood Reporter, CTV renewed the series for a second and third season in February — the network's first-ever order for consecutive seasons of a homegrown show. Each cycle will include self-contained six-episode stories. Since the exact terms of Hulu's licensing deal aren't immediately clear, this doesn't necessarily mean Cardinal's later chapters will be made available on the streaming platform, but it's pretty likely.
And that brings us to the next question: What exactly is Cardinal even about? It's described by Hulu as a "gripping drama" with "high emotional stakes" adapted from Giles Blunt's 2000 suspense novel, Forty Words for Sorrow. The series stars The Killing vet Billy Campbell as detective John Cardinal, while Revenge alum Karine Vanasse plays his shrewd partner, Lisa Delorme, who Cardinal believes may be hiding her own secret agenda. Cardinal himself is a dogged investigator burdened by his past transgressions: he was demoted after chasing a hunch for a case he couldn't let go, but is brought back to the Homicide Unit when the missing 13-year-old's body is uncovered, proving his instincts correct.
The first season, which unfolds across six hour-long episodes, follows the pair's all-consuming hunt for the girl's murderer. Cardinal must manage his own familial issues and keep a watchful eye on Delorme, all while trying to stay a step ahead of an increasingly violent and twisted case. The cast also includes Kristen Thomson, Deborah Hay, Alanna Bale, Glen Gould, David Richmond-Peck, and Allie MacDonald, among others.
Per the Toronto Star, the second season, which films this summer, will focus on the third book in Blunt’s series, Black Fly Season, digging into the mysterious shooting of a woman who stumbles into a local tavern with no memory of who she is or how she ended up with a bullet in her head.
Cardinal's third season will draw inspiration from the fourth and fifth titles in the Blunt's Cardinal sequence, By the Time You Read This and Crime Machine. The first sees Cardinal struggling to come to terms with his wife's suicide as Delorme looks into the circulation of a spate of unspeakable photos featuring a young girl, while the latter finds Algonquin Bay shattered when the decapitated bodies of two tourists are found in a lakeside summer home.
If that's already enough to hook you, check out Cardinal when it hits Hulu June 16.
