The series first premiered in August 2019 and focuses on the titular city of Carnival Row, where mythological beings exist as oppressed refugees in a human-dominated social order. Bloom stars as Rycroft Philostrate, a detective in the city and a half-fae, who begins investigating a conspiracy involving a group of fae known as the Black Raven — one of whom is his former lover Vignette Stonemoss (Delevingne). Season 2 picks up where the first left off, with Rycroft off the force but still investigating a series of murders, while the Black Raven escalates their plans to protest oppression in the city.
Season 2 of “Carnival Row” began production shortly after the Season 1 premiere in 2019. However, the show ended up as one of many to shut down production in March 2020 during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season officially wrapped filming in September 2021. The February release makes the show one of the last to return after suffering pandemic-related delays. Bloom and Delevingne are joined in the cast by Arty Froushan, Caroline Ford, Karla Crome, Andrew Gower, Tamzin Merchant, and David Gyasi. The show was created by René Echevarria and Travis Beacham and is based on Beechem’s film script “A Killing on Carnival Row,” which appeared in the inaugural 2005 installment of The Black List. Beacham executive produces with Bloom, Delevingne, showrunner Erik Oleson, Brad Van Arragon, Sarah Byrd, Jim Dunn, Sam Ernst, and Wesley Strick. Upon its release, the first season of “Carnival Row” received mixed notices from critics. In his review of Season 1, IndieWire TV critic Steve Greene wrote, “While this eight-part season has fashioned a highly detailed world for itself, immersed in a mythology that spans multiple lands and stretches over entire cities, there’s still something empty in its execution. It’s a show with certainly admirable ambitions, but through nearly every aspect of its swirling narrative, ‘Carnival Row’ is less than the sum of its otherworldly parts.”
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.