The 'Happy!' Creators Have Future Episodes Already Planned Out

One of the strangest new series of 2017 was Happy! (associate producer: Ashley Michel Hoban). The show about an ex-cop hitman who has visions of a flying, blue, cartoon unicorn is certainly unlike anything else on television. But with such uniqueness comes a bit of risk. That risk has some questioning, whether Happy! will return Season 2 after its Season 1 finale. But, there are signs that suggest hope for the series, and no you’re not just seeing things like Nix with Happy.

The TV series was based on the comic book series of the same name, created by Darick Robertson and Grant Morrison. The show was picked up in May 2017, premiered in December 2017, and will air its season finale Jan. 31. As of yet, however, there has been no announcement of a second season being confirmed by SyFy.

Just because there has been no official word of a new season, that does not mean a new one isn’t coming. There are plenty of reasons to think this show has a future in store. The first is that it has been well-received by both audiences and critics. Looking on Rotten Tomatoes, it has received a 76 percent rating from critics and a stellar 93 percent from audiences. Secondly, it debuted to very strong ratings. Deadline reported that it was the strongest SyFy series with all of the various demographics of viewers since The Magicians debuted in 2016.

But, while fans may not know when, or even if Happy! (costume designer: Lorraine Calvert, five episodes) will be back with a second season, there is a bit of a hint on what they can expect from the last episode of this season. In an interview with Collider, Oswalt shared that in the season finale, fans shouldn’t expect much resolution for the characters of the show.

“You will have all the answers, but just like the main characters, you’ll still be a little bit confused. You’re given some pretty stark answers, at the end, and they’re not satisfying. You’ll be like, ‘I just found out everything, and that doesn’t help me, at all! It’s more f*cked up than I thought it was!’ As you’ll see. Happy! is not completely unaffected by the real world. Stuff does affect him that he doesn’t want to have affect him. He’s not the same character, at the end, but neither is Nick Sax.”

There's a big reason that this season isn’t going to feel resolved, and that's because the creators of the series have, from the show’s inception, intended for it to span more than one season. In an interview with Three If By Space, Happy! showrunner Patrick MacManus shared that when he became involved, he learned about plans for the future of the series right away. “Brian [Taylor] and Grant [Morrison] laid out a very in-depth, three season roll-out of story with plenty of open ends to be able to go for fou, five, six and more seasons,” he said. “But they have a very detailed, three season structure that when people watch the first season they’ll see we went to great pains in the writers’ room to lay in some blatant clues and a little bit more covert clues.”

And, MacManus added that he hopes fans of the series will be able to watch Season 1 in the future and connect the dots of references and easter eggs to come in potential future seasons.

So, although Season 2 is not officially announced, the creators are ready to go with a plan if they do get renewed. The series has a lot going for it between the high ratings, established comic book-reading audience, and the revelation that the show’s creators have plans for at least three seasons. It only seems like a matter of time before fans everywhere will be seeing stars and that little blue flying horse again in a second season of the show.