Sacha Baron Cohen returned to the mainstream with a force this summer when he released his newest, secret undercover project WHO IS AMERICA? at the end of July. The show stirred up a lot of controversies, with Cohen going undercover as several ludicrous characters to put political figures in scandalous positions. The show was a hit and had everyone talking, meaning Showtime is eager for more, but Cohen recently revealed doing a second season would be impossible at this point.
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The actor was talking with Deadline about the prospect of a second season when he said that doing a new season is out of the cards for one simple reason: the cat is out of the bag. Now that everyone knows he’s coming it would be too difficult for a unique, new character to nab an interview with any political figures – and now everyone is on high alert for potential silliness.
“It would be impossible. We relied on the fact that no one was expecting me. I hadn’t done anything undercover for over a decade and so nobody thought, 'oh wait a minute, is this a Sacha Baron Cohen character?’ That’s the problem. You’d have to wait another 10 years to get away with it again, otherwise, you’d have some very slim pickings. And no publicist worth his or her weight would allow an interview with anyone suspicious now.”
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In the months since the show premiered on Showtime no political careers – like that of interviewees Bernie Sanders and Dick Cheney – have exactly been ruined, but it has still put many of them in a bad light. For instance, there was gun lobbyist Philip Van Cleave, who was duped by Cohen into doing an ad for “Puppy Pistol,” a line of (adorable) guns for toddlers. For his efforts, Cohen was recently nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy, his first time nominated at the awards since he won Best Actor for BORAT in 2007.
Obviously, with that level of attention, the network would be very anxious to bring him back, and Showtime CEO David Nevins said (via IndieWire) that he’s “dying to bring it back.” Though no confirmation about a season two was announced, it seems the big-wigs may have been trying to get Cohen to go for another round. It would be surprising if he did, and he’s never done another movie follow-up to similar projects, like BORAT or BRUNO (although he has appeared as the character once or twice since).
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In the end, it would be a big surprise if he decided to do a second season. With how big this first one was everyone would be expecting him, and the joke would be ruined. Though I can see why Showtime would want to do more after this first run, they should've known it was meant to be a one-off. Cohen knows when to step back for a bit and let the heat die down, so even if the show doesn't come back for season two, this probably isn't the last we've seen of his undercover shenanigans.