As far as its Next Big Show after Breaking Bad, AMC may have been a little disappointed that freshman sci-fi drama Humans didn’t immediately catch fire with critics or audiences, but the network is standing by the Channel 4 co-production by ordering a second season of eight episodes.
The show has been averaging a solid 2 million viewers from week to week (with live+3 ratings), but its premiere episode made a particularly big splash across the pond, becoming Channel 4’s highest-rated original drama in 20 years. As such, a renewal always seemed like a sure thing.
The series, which has attracted praise and criticism for its slow-burn nature, centers on a suburban London family in a parallel reality in which the most popular accessory for a modern family is an android called a ‘Synth,’ a creation that eerily mirrors a living human being in every way.
AMC/Sundance TV original programming president Joel Stillerman said in an official statement:
“We’re so pleased to announce a second season of Humans. As one of the year’s top new cable series, Humans has been embraced by fans and critics across the U.S. and UK. We’re looking forward to continuing this very captivating story and further exploring the show’s parallel, Synth-filled world that hits so disturbingly close to home.”
Our own Mitchel Broussard was mixed about the series in his season 1 review, awarding the show two-and-a-half out of five stars. He praised Gemma Chan’s lead performance as one of the Synths, but noted:
Your enjoyment of Humans will directly depend on your patience for this kind of slow-burn. There’s some truly interesting ideas wading around in the first few hours of the show, but co-creators Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley consistently misstep in presenting them in entertaining, enjoyable-to-view ways. From commonplace themes to dialogue as subtle as dropping a storage container from a rooftop to hammer in a nail — “I know you need time alone, after you lost your mom and dad so young,” Joe says languidly to an upset Laura — Humans feels consistently incomplete. It has the right parts, despite how banal some appear, but its production and assembly line could have used some tweaking before launch.
Hopefully, with a second season confirmed, Humans can work to iron out some of the kinks. It will return to AMC and Channel 4 next year.