Space Force – Picture: Netflix
Space Force will officially be coming back for season 2 at Netflix. The renewal was announced in late 2020 and production took place in 2021, and now, Space Force will return for its second season on Netflix in February 2022. Here’s what we know about Space Force season 2.
Season one was released on Netflix on May 28th, 2020, and coincided (roughly) with the SpaceX/NASA launch that happened over the same weekend.
The series featured a huge array of stars including Steve Carrell (who worked with Greg Daniels on The Office), Ben Schwartz, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, Diana Silvers, and Jimmy O. Yang. Not only did it feature a huge lineup of stars, but it also featured a rocking soundtrack too.
Although reviews were mixed for the first season most agreed it had potential although the consensus is that Greg Daniel’s Prime Video series, Upload, was the better of the two new shows.
Now let’s take a look into the prospects of a second season.
When is the Space Force season 2 Netflix release date?
Thanks to Netflix’s various social media profiles, we learned that Space Force season 2 arrives on Friday, February 18th, 2022.
Not even gravity can keep them down. Space Force returns on February 18. pic.twitter.com/krmGM3Dbhk
— Space Force (@realspaceforce) January 3, 2022
Has Space Force been renewed for season 2 at Netflix?
Official renewal status: Officially renewed (Last updated: 11/14/2020)
In July 2020 we had learned that Netflix has renewed Space Force for a second season and was in active development. The news comes from the same source that helped us break the news that Ozark was renewed before it was officially announced by Netflix the following day, amongst other series.
It wasn’t until November 2020 when The Hollywood Reporter finally announced on behalf of Netflix that season 2 was a go but there were some glaring reasons to be skeptical of the show’s future beyond season 2. More on that in a second.
Despite early indications that the series was a “misfire,” plenty of subscribers tuned in to watch the series, 40 million in fact tuned in to watch the first season in the first 28 days of release.
However, audiences have defied the warnings of critics with much more favorable scores. On RottenTomatoes (as of May 31st) the audience score is 74% as opposed to the critic’s score of 39%. Metacritic scores the series at a 47 whereas IMDb users have the series pegged at 6.9.
Is season 2 the last chance to get it right for Space Force?
As we mentioned, there’s plenty of criticism for the series and rightly so.
Alongside the renewal, we learned of several changes that could be early signals that it’s the last chance to get it right for Space Force on Netflix.
Specifically, it was said in the THR report that production is moving from Los Angeles to Vancouver to reduce costs. In addition, a shakeup is also occurring in the writer’s room.
Space Force – Picture: Netflix
Norm Hiscock will join the team and act as co-showrunner (likely to release time for Greg Daniels who is also simultaneously working on Amazon’s Upload renewed for season 2).
Hiscock is notably known for his role as a producer on NBC’s Parks & Recreation but also served as writer and producer on titles like The Kids in the Hall, King of the Hill, and Corner Gas.
What to expect from Space Force season 2
Space Force ended on quite the cliffhanger. Mark is headed back to the Space Force HQ after a dramatic escalation on the moon with the United States sabotaging the Chinese base and vice versa. They’re all now up there stranded and Mark is headed back to the save the day.
Of course, one of the major questions out of season 1 that never really got answered is why Maggie is in jail. There was a time jump in episode 1one and apart from various hints (including the fact she’s serving 40 years) we still don’t know what crime Maggie committed. She escaped (alongside her prison guard girlfriend) to help Erin out.
Beyond that, there are no other major story arcs left hanging. We know that season 2 would likely continue exploring the fledgling relationship between Dr Chan and Angela.
What about spin-offs? Several times throughout the series, Mark sits around a table with the other leaders of the various forces? Could we perhaps have spin-off episodes or whole spin-off series?
It’s unclear this early on who would return however, it’s with great sadness that Mark Naird’s father in the series will not be returning given the sad passing of Fred Willard shortly before season 1 released.
When and where did the production of Space Force season 2 take place?
The first series actually had a quick turnaround given its January 2019 announcement. It was filmed between September 2019 and January 2020 before releasing in May 2020.
In February 2021, we learned courtesy of ProductionWeekly issue 1235 that filming for Space Force season 2 has been scheduled to take place between May 3rd, 2021 and June 21st, 2021. However, it appears that production didn’t actually begin until May 10th meaning that we’d expect the end date pushed back to June 28th.
Some of the cast posted pictures of themselves in Vancouver, Canada with Ben Schwartz describing how he had to take part in a 14-day mandatory traveler’s quarantine. Tawny Newsome has also posted that she’s currently in Vancouver.
Ben Schwartz in Vancouver – Picture: Instagram
As mentioned above, all filming for season 2 is took place in Vancouver, Canada.
Are you looking forward to seeing Space Force return for season 2 on Netflix? Let us know down in the comments down below.