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Basketball Fans, Rejoice: 'Winning Time' Will Return For Season 2
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After 10 episodes that caused a multitude of beefs throughout the basketball world, HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty has finally wrapped its first season. The season finale, which debuted on HBO this Sunday night, was an absolute treat. Solomon Hughes (as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) gave his best performance of the season, Paul Westhead delivered his final Shakespearean halftime speech, and Jerry Buss finally got his ring. For all of you hoops fans who followed the series, don't worry—HBO has already announced that a second season is on the way.
“It’s been a thrill to bring Winning Time to life with Adam McKay, Max Borenstein, our phenomenal producing team, and this incredible cast,” said Francesca Orsi, executive vice president of HBO Programming. “This series not only tells the riveting story of the Lakers’ rise, but is also a look back at a transformative era in basketball, celebrity, and the city of Los Angeles. We can’t wait to see how this team will tell the next chapter of this dynasty.”
Here's everything we know about Season Two of Winning Time so far.
When will Season Two of Winning Time debut?
Considering all of the big names in Winning Time's cast, we wouldn't be surprised if a two-year hiatus is in store for the sports drama. Too long for you? Watch the 30 for 30 all-timer,Celtics/Lakers: Best of Enemies—or, you know, the actual NBA playoffs—on repeat until you don't want to look at a basketball anymore.
Which Lakers season(s) Will Season Two of Winning Time follow?
If you'll remember, Winning Time's premiere episode jumps about a decade into the future—showing us the moment Magic Johnson received his HIV diagnosis. So, aside from the obvious 40-plus seasons' worth of Lakers action to explore, Winning Time has already showed its intent to at least document the Showtime era past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's retirement, which is something series co-creator Max Borenstein confirmed to IndieWire.
“There’s this bargain with the audience that if they give you their time, you’re going to do your very best to tell them this long form story that will hopefully ultimately cohere. In our case, we very much know where we’re going,” Borenstein said. “It’s on us to do our very best to make it worthy of continuing. Everyone crosses their fingers and takes a breath and takes the plunge.”
Here's the big question, then: Will Winning Time continue to go Lakers season by Lakers season? Or will the series begin to merge two or three years of basketball history into one season of TV? You'd have to think the latter, otherwise Winning Time won't get to the LeBron James era until the year 2070. (Related: Can we get a Winning Time spinoff set in 2020, focused solely on the Bubble?) Judging by Winning Time's finale—where Sean Patrick Small's Larry Bird gets a bit more screentime—Season Two will go all-in on the legendary battles between the Lakers and Celtics in the 1980s. Borenstein seemingly teased as such in the IndieWire interview.
"In our show, hopefully we have an opportunity to get there," he said. "Getting to face the Celtics is like the White Walkers in Game of Thrones. They flirt with it for quite a while in this iteration of the dynasty and then only eventually get there. When they do, it becomes a rivalry for the ages. And so this is the hint that he’s more than just the villain, that there’s an internal presence there, and that he’s every bit as competitive and driven as Magic Johnson. Hopefully we have an opportunity to get to that place where we get to explore the beginnings of their friendship and get into Larry’s POV, which is certainly part of our ambition eventually."
Past the '80s? All we have is a friendly reminder that Jeff Pearlman—who wrote the main book Winning Time pulls from, Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s—penned a follow-up, years later. It's called, Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty. Our money is on an adaptation of the latter book, sooner than later.
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