Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The critically acclaimed, vastly underrated DC Universe show Doom Patrol is coming back for a second season in 2020, thanks in large part to WarnerMedia’s new streaming service HBO Max. The news was just announced at DC Universe’s San Diego Comic-Con panel by executive producer Jeremy Carver and series star Diane Guerrero (Crazy Jane).
Though many fans and pundits have wondered whether DC Universe — which does not release official subscription numbers — would be around for the long run, particularly given the news that WarnerMedia was launching their own HBO Max service, it seems that the two will work in a symbiotic relationship. New episodes of Doom Patrol will debut in 2020 on both DC Universe and HBO Max, and all 15 episodes of Season 1 will be available to stream on both services. And in fact, the panel credited HBO Max for the pick-up, noting that the WarnerMedia service had championed the series.
As well it should. Doom Patrol is an irreverent take on superheroes based on the DC Comics books of the same name, featuring Brendan Fraser as Clifford “Cliff” Steele/Robotman, Matt Bomer as Larry Trainor/Negative Man, April Bowlby as Rita Farr/Elasti-Woman, Jovian Wade as Victor “Vic” Stone/Cyborg, and Alan Tudyk as their arch-enemy, Mr. Nobody. The first season of the series included everything from a giant rat making out with a giant cockroach, to a Kelly Clarkson dance party that was — no joke — one of the most heartbreaking moments on TV of the year.
Doom Patrol is part of a second wave of TV shows that (again, like the source material) use superheroes as a chance to truly examine the human experience. In this case, the characters in the pseudo-team have all been turned into monsters, and are dealing with the leftover wreckage of their lives in a house together. On the surface it’s a similar set-up to Netflix’s Umbrella Academy, but it’s so very much sadder, and often over-the-top in ideas and execution.
To continue to editorialize, Doom Patrol is far more at home on an HBO than it is on the more superhero focused DC Universe, which is perhaps why the new streamer championed the show so hard. If HBO Max and DC Universe go for a similar split of content as, say, Disney+ and Hulu (which are both owned by Disney), they may have a continued chance to both survive.
Regardless, Doom Patrol Season 2 is great news for any fan of good TV, and here’s hoping more people check it out once it hits HBO Max.
