HBO’s porn industry drama The Deuce may only be two episodes into its first season, but HBO has given the series an early renewal for season two.
Starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal, the series follows a group of characters in 1970s New York as the porn industry is legalized, and was created by George Pelacanos and David Simon. The pair previously worked on HBO’s The Wire and Treme and executive produce The Deuce with Franco and Nina Kostroff Noble. Breaking Bad‘s Michelle McLaren directed the pilot and finale for the first season.
“We are thrilled to continue our creative collaboration with master storytellers David Simon and George Pelecanos,” said Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming. “Their unique gift for immersing the audience in their dark and edgy worlds brings a brilliant verisimilitude unlike any other. With the remarkably talented Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco leading an exceptional cast, we look forward to delving deeper as this captivating story evolves.”
“Everyone involved with this project is genuinely grateful to HBO for the chance to take the narrative where it needs to go,” says Simon. “We knew the theme and purpose of the story, but there are many people in the entertainment industry who might not have it told, or worse, would have told it for the wrong reasons. HBO is a serious outfit. And they don’t scare.”
“Many thanks to HBO, our longtime partners, who’ve now given us the opportunity to continue to tell this compelling story,” adds Pelecanos. “We’re ready to get back to work with our amazing cast and crew.”
The Deuce follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world at the pioneering moments of what would become the billion-dollar American sex industry.