Shantaram is an Apple TV+ original series based on the best-selling book of the same name by Gregory David Roberts. The show stars Charlie Hunnam, best known for his epic role in the hit series Sons of Anarchy.
Shantaram was in production for a long, long time and eventually resulted in somewhat mixed reviews. It seems that the viewers enjoyed it more than the critics, as the IMDb rating of the show is sitting at a solid 7.6/10. That leaves the question, will there ever be a Season 2 of Shantaram? Here’s what we know.
UPDATE: On December 15, Deadline reported that Shantaram would NOT be renewed for the second season, meaning that Apple+ had canceled the show after the Season 1 finale, which premiered on December 16.
Shantaram: A brief synopsis
Before we get into the details and speculations about Season 2, let’s break down the story from Season 1 to understand what the show is about.
Shantaram follows Lin Ford (Charlie Hunnam), who is an Australian heroin addict and a criminal, incarcerated for robbery and serving time in an Australian prison in the 1980s. Lin escapes imprisonment and seeks refuge in Bombay (today’s Mumbai), India, reinventing himself as a doctor.
His old habits, addictions, and lifestyle quickly catch up, though, as he quickly gets involved in the criminal underworld of India, which eventually leads him to Afghanistan. There, he partners with a mob boss who’s right in the middle of a war against Russian criminals.
To make matters even more complicated, Lin falls in love with a mysterious woman named Karla. Will the newfound purpose in life lead him to a path of light, or will Lin Ford fall even deeper into the abyss?
That remains to be seen, as the final episode of Season 1 is yet to premiere on Apple TV+ on December 16, 2022. The first three episodes aired on October 14, 2022, and then one episode a week aired every subsequent Friday.
Will there be Shantaram Season 2?
So far, Shantaram Season 2 hasn’t been officially confirmed nor canceled by Apple TV+. Seeing that there is a sequel novel by the same author already out there, it wouldn’t be crazy to assume that the producers will pick up on Season 2, especially having such a phenomenal lead in Charlie Hunnam.
UPDATE: On December 15, Deadline reported that Shantaram would NOT be renewed for the second season, meaning that Apple+ had canceled the show after the Season 1 finale, which premiered on December 16.
Even the cast and crew members (including Hunnam) expressed their desire to continue telling the story in a new season of action. At the world premiere of Shantaram Season 1 at the Westwood’s Bruin Theater, Hunnam told The Hollywood Reporter:
“We did the best job we could possibly do with the first season, against at times what seemed to be insurmountable odds. We did some things really, really well and captured some magic.
There are some things that we can do better if we had the opportunity to go back season two and the hope is we get to continue telling the story the way it wants to be told, whether that’s in 10, 20 or 30 more hours. One thing is clear: This text has an energy of its own and demands to be told the way it wants to be told.”
However, that could be easier said than done. As I’ve mentioned, the reviews for Season 1 are murky, to say the least, and Hunnam’s physical state might prevent any potential production for at least two years due to a recent back injury he suffered while preparing for his role in a new Zack Snyder movie, Rebel Moon. In the same interview with THR, he said:
“I have a totally exploded S1 and S2 that are torn wide open, a hundred percent dehydrated. It’s going to take two years to heal, and I have a 40 percent tear on the ligament on the right side that holds my spinal column in place.”
You think that’s bad? Well, how about his health during the filming of Shantaram? As it seems, Hunnam went through hell to complete the first season of action:
“When I was in India, I got a bacterial gut infection, a viral gut infection, an acute respiratory infection. I had conjunctivitis in both eyes, an ear infection, and dengue fever from a mosquito bite.”
If that’s not enough, it seems that the entire experience left somewhat of a numbness in the lead actor in terms of his excitement for the show. As it turns out, the production of Season 1 might’ve lasted for as long as seven years:
“I actually feel numb tonight, maybe somewhat unemotional. I am excited for the world to see it, but after seven years, I suppose I’m saying that it’s more personal to me than sharing it with the outside world, and I suppose it all hasn’t really sunk in yet.”
Shantaram Season 2: Potential Release date
If you summarize everything that’s been said, I don’t really see Shantaram Season 2 happening – at least not anytime soon. The production of Season 1 lasted for as long as seven years (or, at least, Hunnam was invested in the project personally for that long).
Granted, there were some hiccups and changes in the creative team along the way that made the production longer, and that likely wouldn’t happen for Season 2.
However, seeing that Hunnam will take at least two years to recover his back, barring any rehabilitation setbacks, it means that there’s no way Shantaram will get a Season 2 anytime before late 2024 or early 2025 – possibly even later. That is if it ever even happens.
UPDATE: On December 15, Deadline reported that Shantaram would NOT be renewed for the second season, meaning that Apple+ had canceled the show after the Season 1 finale, which premiered on December 16.
Shantaram Season 2 Plot
Suppose that Shantaram Season 2 does eventually happen; what would it be about? Well, it’s hard to say where it would kick off exactly since the finale of Season 1 hasn’t aired yet. Hence, it would depend on where the first season ends and what loose ends it leaves us with.
That being said, the show seems to follow the source material quite faithfully, so one can assume that Season 2 would continue the same trend. Meaning we’d likely see the sequel novel adapted for the new season of action.
WARNING: Potential spoilers for the Shantaram Season 1 Finale are ahead!
The sequel novel is called The Mountain Shadow, and is set two years after the first novel, Shantaram, ended. It’s mostly set in Bombay after Lin lost both Kaderbhai (the mafia boss that dies in the Afghan mountains during the war with Russian criminals) and Karla, who goes off to marry a Bombay media mogul.
Lin sets out to finish the last task given to him by Kaderbhai, which was to win the trust of a sage from the mountains, and also to find love and faith, and get out of everything alive.
Shantaram Season 2 Trailer
Seeing that Shantaram Season 2 hasn’t even been confirmed, let alone in production, there’s obviously no trailer available as of yet. However, if you’re new to the show and still haven’t started watching it, here’s the trailer for Shantaram Season 1.
Shantaram Season 2 Cast & Crew
If Season 2 of Shantaram came to fruition, it would likely feature the same cast and crew from Season 1, barring the characters who left or died. I’ll try to avoid spoilers in listing the main cast members, though.
The cast features Charlie Hunnam in the lead role, supported by Fayssal Bazzi as Abdullah, Sujaya Dasgupta as Kavita, Antonia Desplat as Karla, Elham Ehsas as Modena, Elektra Kilbey as Lisa, David Field as Wally Nightingale, Rachel Kamath as Parvati, Alexander Siddig as Khader Khan, Gabrielle Scharnitzky as Madame Zhou, and others.
The crew consists of Iain B. MacDonald, Bronwen Hughes, and Bharat Nalluri as directors, while Steve Lightfoot is mostly responsible for the writing. Lightfoot and Nalluri were also executive producers of the show. You can find the entire cast and crew list here.
