I haven't read Matt Ruff's novel Lovecraft Country (you can buy it at THIS LINK), but from what I understand the first season of the HBO series adaptation (buy it on DVD/Blu-ray HERE) covered the whole story. Despite that, it was said earlier this year that showrunner Misha Green and the writers were coming up with a story for a season 2. But even though they had a story in place, there's not going to be a second season. HBO released a statement saying,
We will not be moving forward with a second season of Lovecraft Country. We are grateful for the dedication and artistry of the gifted cast and crew, and to Misha Green, who crafted this groundbreaking series. And to the fans, thank you for joining us on this journey."
Since the cancellation was confirmed, Green has been taking to social media to share information on the scrapped season 2. It would have been called Lovecraft Country: Supremacy, and would have found the United States split into four sections due to a zombie outbreak. Offering a glimpse at the "season 2 Bible", Green shared an image of the Sovereign States of America, which would have included a several state stretch called the Whitelands. The Whitelands is
a territory that is completely overrun by zombies – most of them of the slower variety with pockets of fast-moving zombies. One price of 'The Origin' spell was the creation of a zombie population. Years into the epidemic, a joint effort was undertaken to corral the zombies into one location in the center of America. The Whitelands now function as a dangerous border between the South, West, and Northern territories."
Some of this concept reminds me of the lost Phantasm sequel that Don Coscarelli and Roger Avary were working on at one point, which would have had the United States split into three sections due to a zombie plague.
A specific reason for the Lovecraft Country cancellation has not been given, but maybe HBO just didn't want to add another zombie series to the TV landscape. Or maybe Green was too busy developing the next Tomb Raider movie, which she is writing and will be directing, to go back to showrunning Lovecraft Country.
Green has also released the scripts for all 10 episodes of Lovecraft Country season 1 online, so for links to those and to watch for any more season 2 details, check out her Twitter.
The first season was all about what happens when
Atticus Black joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father. Thus begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.
Atticus, Letitia, and Uncle George are played by Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, and Courtney B. Vance. They were joined in the cast by Aunjanue Ellis as George's wife Hippolyta; Wunmi Mosaku as Letitia's less successful hustler sister Ruby; Jamie Harris as country sheriff Eunice Hunt; Michael Kenneth Williams as Atticus's missing father, Montrose Freeman; Erica Tazel as Montrose's spitfire wife Dora; Jamie Chung as nursing student Ji-Ah; Jamie Neumann as Hillary, an outdoorsy woman whose dreams turn into nightmares in the big city; Mac Brandt as corrupt Chicago cop Lancaster; Abbey Lee (replacing the originally announced Elizabeth Debicki) as Christina Braithwhite, "the only daughter of Samuel Braithwhite, the leader of a secret order calling themselves the Sons of Adam"; Tony Goldwyn as Samuel Braithwhite, "patriarch of his family, who views people as assets and objects and outsiders — including his daughter Christina — as inferiors"; and Jordan Patrick Smith as Christina's henchman William.
Produced by Monkeypaw Productions and Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television Studios, Lovecraft Country had Green, Jordan Peele, J.J. Abrams, Bill Carraro, David Knoller, Ben Stephenson, and pilot director Yann Demange as its executive producers.