Apple TV’s ‘Sugar’ Returns With Colin Farrell, And Its Alien Mystery Is Just Getting Started
Colin Farrell’s ‘Sugar’ has spent its run proving that Los Angeles can hide secrets darker than any classic noir villain ever dreamed up. Wrapped in fedoras, vintage cars, and a moody jazz score, the Apple TV+ detective drama follows John Sugar, a private investigator with a habit of landing cases that spiral far beyond a simple missing persons report. The character first made headlines tracking down Olivia Siegel, the granddaughter of a powerful Hollywood producer, before the show revealed its true identity.
The series moonlights as an unconventional riff on the Superman mythos, since Sugar turns out to be one of several extraterrestrials quietly observing humanity from Earth. By the end of season one, his fellow visitors chose to head home, but Sugar decided to stay behind to keep searching for his missing sister. That twist helped the first season land an 81 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and earn an Emmy nomination for its cinematography.
As season two premiered, ScreenRant sat down with executive producer Simon Kinberg for an exclusive interview about where the alien storyline goes next. Kinberg teased that the show still has plenty in reserve, explaining, “We have a lot stored away for the future, in terms of what we’d want to explore with the alien part of Sugar’s life. This season, I would say, is even more human than last season. Sugar finds himself, and the show finds itself, in the most alien, scariest dark alleys of Los Angeles, and that’s enough to make him feel like he’s in an exotic world.”
New showrunner Sam Catlin, who took over from creator Mark Protosevich, said leaning harder into comedy this season felt natural once the alien secret was finally out in the open for the audience. Apple TV+ confirmed the season two renewal back in 2024, with producers Audrey Chon and Kinberg crediting fan enthusiasm for bringing John Sugar back on the case.
The new season finds Sugar investigating the disappearance of the older brother of an up and coming boxer, a case that spirals into a city wide conspiracy tied to a corrupt sheriff’s deputy. The expanded cast brings in Jin Ha, Tony Dalton, Raymond Lee, Sasha Calle, Laura Donnelly, and Shea Whigham alongside Farrell.
Critics have responded even more warmly this time, with season two currently holding a perfect 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. New episodes are rolling out weekly on Apple TV+ every Friday.
Farrell, who also executive produces ‘Sugar,’ is hoping the mythology gets plenty of room to grow. In an interview with Collider, the actor explained that the alien storyline deepens through an important personal relationship for Sugar this season, and admitted he would love to get “four or five seasons” out of the show overall. Kinberg has echoed that ambition, signaling that a potential season three would explore even more alien lore than fans have seen so far.
With Kinberg keeping so much of Sugar’s extraterrestrial history locked away for later, the boxer case and the corrupt deputy conspiracy might be the least mysterious thing about this season. What part of Sugar’s alien backstory are you hoping gets cracked open first?
