UPDATE, 6:40 AM: Deadline previously reported that SundanceTV was close to renewing Hap and Leonard, and now star James Purefoy has confirmed it’s official.
John Wirth has joined the show as showrunner, taking over from Jim Mickle. The Hell On Wheels alum will also serve as an EP, as will Mickle again. Hap and Leonard is expect back for another 6-episode run in 2017.
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE, May 20, 2:53 PM: SundanceTV is close to renewing Hap And Leonard for a second season. The network is looking for a new showrunner, we’re hearing, so all the pieces haven’t formally come together yet. But if it does, James Purefoy, who plays blue-collar ex-con Hap Collins, and Michael Kenneth Williams as his unlikely partner and Vietnam vet Leonard Pine would both return. Like Season 1, Season 2 would be for six episodes.
The series was created by Nick Damici and Jim Mickle and the latter served as showrunner for Season 1. In the second season Mickle would stay on as executive producer/writer and Damici as executive producer alongside Jeremy Platt, Linda Moran and Lansdale.
The plan is for Season 2 to be based on Landale’s 1994 book Mucho Mojo, the second in the Hap and Leonard series. It revolves around the death of Leonard Pine’s Uncle Chester who happens to live next to a crack house. Under the floorboards of his uncle’s house the two discover the skeleton of an infant wrapped in child pornography. Leonard refuses to believe his uncle could be involved so he enlists the help of Hap to solve the murder and clear his uncle.
Hap And Leonard debuted March 2 and is the network’s highest-rated original series. Season 1 averaged 456,000 viewers in Live+3 and 147K in the 18-49 demo, both big lifts from Live+Same Day.
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