Cursed Season 2 Doesn’t Have A Book To Follow Yet — But Its Path Is Clear

If you have speedily binge-watched Netflix’s fantasy series Cursed and already crave more, I get it. The Cursed season 1 finale dropped so many last-minute reveals and then faded to black, without giving us much of a chance to process it all. The series doesn’t offer any confirmation, but there’s no way Nimue (Katherine Langford) is really dead. Let’s be real: She is the main character. There is more to her story. But what we really need to know is whether or not Cursed itself will live to see season 2. 

There's no official renewal yet, but the good news is that Netflix already seems to be a big fan of the show. Cursed is based on a YA graphic novel of the same name by Thomas Wheeler and Frank Miller (who are also co-creators of the series) that was released in October 2019. But in an untypical turn of events, the streaming platform bought the rights way back in 2018, before the book was even written. In an interview with Barnes and Noble’s blog, Cursed illustrator Frank Miller confirmed that he and Wheeler spoke about collaborating and landed the book deal first. Netflix then reached out and Miller and Wheeler decided to craft the book with the TV show in mind. “It seemed like a tantalising yet mad experiment to attempt to tell this story in two different formats almost simultaneously,” Wheeler said in the interview. 

The creators used most of the book’s material in the first season. Wheeler told TV Insider that aside from a few timeline shifts and expanded characters, what happens in the Cursed book is pretty much what happens on screen. Also, like the series, there has only been one Cursed book so far, so there isn’t anywhere to look for spoilers about what comes next.  

Wheeler and Miller haven’t mentioned plans for a sequel or second season and Langford has been tight-lipped as well. So, the only clue we have right now is in the premise of the series itself: In Arthurian legend, Nimue is synonymous with the “Lady of the Lake,” but she doesn’t earn this title in season 1. She is strictly called the “Wolf-Blood Witch” by her enemies. Yet, Langford and the creators continually refer to the Cursed protagonist as the Lady of the Lake (like in the featurette below), and the fact that Nimue will become the tragic Lady of the Lake. We can assume, if there's a second season, this would happen at some point after her “death” at the end of the first season.

Let’s not forget, the last we see of Nimue, she is  floating in water after being shot with an arrow. To complete the story, we need at least one more season that explains how Nimue transitioned from the Wolf-Blood Witch to the water enchantress who guards Excalibur, or the Sword of Power in Cursed.

There is also strong evidence that Nimue will survive her injury. Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård), Nimue’s father, is shot with a poisonous arrow and lives. Since he made it through the season, it’s not unreasonable that Nimue would also overcome her injury if the show returned. She could emerge from the water as an entirely new version of herself. And thus, the Lady of the Lake would be born. 

But, the biggest hint that Nimue isn’t dead is that the story is told through her narration. She kind of needs to be alive to tell us about her life in past tense. Also, the season finale also left us with potential problems Nimue could face next season. After her injury, her powers could either be limited or enhanced. Cursed could explore how she handles losing her powers (like Merlin did) or how she learns to control her abilities without the Sword of Power. 

And the show has to address the love triangle started at the eleventh hour. The Red Spear (Bella Dayne) introduces herself to Arthur (Devon Terrell) as Guinevere in the tenth episode — and we all know Guinevere becomes Arthur’s queen in most Arthurian mythology. Arthur and Nimue’s romance could end before it really gets started, but more likely than not, there's a massive romantic struggle in Nimue's future.

With all these possibilities, and a beloved star like Langford, how could Cursed not get a season 2?