Fans of ‘The OA‘ have been dying for more since the first season dropped in 2016 and we were getting close to 2019 without an update as to what was going on with the series. Thankfully, Brit Marling has been able to take some time and open up as to not only what we can expect but why this unique science fiction show has taken so long to get back in front of our eyes. While that should mean we should be getting a release date some point soon, it won’t be today.
The brief update is that she and Zal Batmanglij have just finished the sound mixing for the second installment of the series which follows a blind woman who went missing for 7-years and now is back and able to see again.
Here is the start of her post but we’ve got it all below so you won’t have to click through to read all the details!
“Fans of the OA –
Many of you have been asking “why is Part II taking so long?” Because the OA is categorized as a TV show this is a very fair question! Let me try to give an answer that honors the question:
(Warning — this is gonna get granular!)
TV shows are created on a yearly cycle primarily because they function off of a pattern narrative. The show creator acts as a master tailor — she crafts the pattern for the original garment (pilot). Then other great tailors come in and create new garments out of this same pattern. This allows for creation with great speed and also familiarity, which is one of the things we all love about great TV.
In addition, many TV shows are adapted from previously written material (novels, comics, foreign TV shows). This allows the writers to work quickly adapting the story for the screen rather than having to create characters and a world or plot from scratch. Finally, most TV shows leap-frog their production cycle. The writers’ room writes 3-4 episodes and then another team begins shooting those episodes while other writers continue writing.
The OA doesn’t function this way. Our chapters vary in length, scope, and even genre. There is no pattern. As a result, every step along the way nothing can be imitated, it has to be invented. For example, our producer on Part II had to throw out the “pattern budgets” the industry normally works with because each chapter required completely different resources to achieve scripts of different lengths, casts, and ambitions. Once she cracked on chapter’s budget she couldn’t apply that code to the next to save time. The same is true for editing — an editor may solve how best to cut chapter 3, but that learning curve doesn’t apply to chapter 5, which is a completely different genre of storytelling.
We also aren’t an adaptation. So we are drawing from just our imaginations every time we go to write a new part, and this takes time. Finally, because I’m both the lead actor and a lead writer we can’t leap-frog the production. We have to write all eight chapters up front before we can begin shooting the first chapter.
Some people thought of Part I of The OA as a long film. If you look at it from that perspective Zal and I write and create an 8-hour film every 2 years. That’s pretty fast considering most 2-hour films take at least 2 years to make!
But the truth is, these days, we’ve been thinking of The OA as neither film nor TV, but as some new kind of storytelling that has only just become possible because of internet-streaming technology and a partner like Netflix that is genuinely interested in trying new things inside narrative. We are learning every day how to best function in a completely new space with little production precedent.
Forgive the longwinded reply — I just realized that there is no way for of this to be evident if not shared by the people inside these new modes of storytelling. I can’t say when Part II’s release date will be just yet. I can only poise you that we go to work every day in the post house and work as hard as we can to make something that feels worthy of all the time and talent our collaborators have poured into Part II, and worthy of all your encouragement and enthusiasm for this story.
Thank you for being patient and being kind. Your goodwill gives us the energy to keep going. We just finished soundmixing chapter 2 yesterday so it is COMING!! We are going to do our best to let you more inside the process in the coming weeks… — B.”
Thankfully, Netflix is allowing for this form of storytelling to exist. Fans of the show just have to be sure to turn in for the second season so it doesn’t suffer the same viewer decline as Marvel’s shows like ‘Iron Fist’ and ‘Luke Cage’ that were cancelled due to the low numbers.
Are you eagerly awaiting the second season of ‘The OA’? Does Brit’s explanation on the delay make sense to you? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
