Picture: Netflix
If you may consider it, it’s been three years since Netflix’s bold, area of interest, and critically acclaimed grownup animated sequence The Midnight Gospel was formally introduced to be canceled after solely a single season. While the podcast lives on, the Netflix present remains to be extremely regarded and in case you puzzled what season 2 may’ve seemed like, we simply bought a brand new “leak” exhibiting simply that…
The information comes via the Duncan Trussell Family Hour podcast, or extra particularly, the reside stream model of the podcast, provided that the clip didn’t characteristic within the pre-recorded model of the podcast. However, a lot of the commentary nonetheless stays.
Duncan Trussell begins the solo podcast, teasing that The Midnight Gospel would characteristic in the direction of the tip, however was mysterious about what precisely could be proven. When the tip of the podcast does roll round, he begins clearing up a query he at all times will get: Is there going to be a second season? The reply remains to be no, and he desires to ensure individuals don’t get their hopes up. “We’re not doing another season,” he says bluntly. “Just want to eradicate any hope you might have there.” But as a substitute of venting frustration, Duncan focuses on what he calls the “miraculous” indisputable fact that the present even bought made in any respect earlier than showcasing a model new mockup trailer.
“You have to understand how insane it was that Netflix let us make that show,” he says. “That show never should have gotten made,” Duncan emphasizes how uncommon it was for Netflix to help one thing so bizarre, philosophical, and non-traditional. Even extra stunning was that the animation occurred totally within the U.S., a rarity in an business the place work is often outsourced to cheaper studios overseas. “The animators were all at Titmouse, an in-house animation team,” Duncan explains.
He admits he by no means seemed on the funds as a result of he didn’t need monetary considerations to have an effect on the artistic course of. “I could have looked at the budget… but I never looked because I didn’t want that to impact me feeling free to come up with ideas with Pendleton [Ward].” Still, he has no illusions about the associated fee: “It must have been fucking expensive. It had to have been.”
So why didn’t Netflix renew it? According to Duncan, it’s easy: the numbers weren’t there. “It’s a business,” he says. “They’re trying to make money. There’s probably a crystal clear set of numbers that justify paying more money for another season. And The Midnight Gospel did not get that initially.” The present didn’t generate the sort of quick, bingeable engagement Netflix seems for, particularly not the sort that justifies a second season of such an costly venture.
Duncan calls the present “a boutiquey, artsy, philosophical crazy show,” and notes it’s not precisely Stranger Things. “It deals with some heavy duty fucking shit,” he says. “I could see how someone who wasn’t into that stuff… would not stick around with that show.” Ultimately, he acknowledges that the present wasn’t constructed for mass attraction, and that’s okay. “That’s just how it works,” he says.
After reflecting on this, Duncan surprises viewers of the reside stream with a wild and heartfelt reveal: he secretly made a trailer for what a second season might have seemed like and put collectively stated trailer with some collaborators from season 1.
Among these collaborators? None aside from Jesse Moynihan, one of many fundamental animators from the unique present, and American rapper Lil Yachty, who voiced a personality within the trailer named Daniel Hoops, along with cameos from comedians Ron White and Ian Fidance.
So why make the trailer in any respect? Duncan says it merely: “I realized it’s kind of sad to not share it with people. Like, what am I doing?” And with that, he shares the trailer reside on the podcast’s video stream. A glimpse into what might have been.
That season 2 clip is just not within the podcast we’ve embedded above.
At the tip of the podcast, Duncan jokingly pleads with the reside stream viewers to not leak the key trailer, saying, “Definitely nobody, if anybody was like recording this, don’t, don’t share that. That’d be horrible.” He threatens leakers with escalating and extreme punishments: “If you leak, it’ll be a 10-minute ban when you come back—minimum… maybe a 15-minuter. We’ve never done a 15-minuter.” Concluding, he provides, “I know how the internet works, which is that if you ask people not to leak something, they won’t.”
This is the place we come to the truth that, sure, somebody did leak the video. A YouTube channel aptly named Daniel Hoops, who will undoubtedly be the recipient of a 10-minute ban or worse, posted the total 5-minute secret trailer:
Picture: Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Picture: Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Picture: Duncan Trussell Family Hour
Are you continue to disenchanted that The Midnight Gospel received’t be returning for a second season at Netflix? Let us know within the feedback.