Mare of Easttown was one of 2021's buzziest TV shows. For seven episodes it kept us gripped and working through theories as Pennsylvania police detective Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet) investigated the murder of a teenage mother while trying to keep her own life from tearing at the seams. Winslet's title character wasn't primped and preened like most TV leads– the actress described her as "kind of disgusting" and "a hot mess" – and the show felt incredibly authentic right down to its realistic, unedited sex scenes.
Mare of Easttown was originally conceived as a one-off limited series, but because it proved so popular (and won four Emmy Awards), there's definitely an appetite for more. In August, Winslet said that creator Brad Ingelsby had shared some "very cool ideas" for a potential second season and hinted that she is open to the idea of reprising her role. "Can I go through it again? It did cost me a lot emotionally to be her, and I have to figure out if I can summon it all up again and do it again," the actress told IndieWire.
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Now, in a new interview with The Guardian, Winslet has said that a potential season would address police brutality in America: one of the most pressing and profoundly important issues of our time. The actress also acknowledged that police corruption in the UK is also a serious problem, something brought into stark focus in March by the brutal murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Metropolitan police officer.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be playing Mare again," Winslet told the publication. "But if we were to do a second season, then for sure these atrocities which have existed in the police force here and in America will find their way into the stories we tell. One hundred per cent. You can’t pretend these things haven’t happened."
The actress added: "It's horrible, isn’t it? This moment in time. It's horrific. You can hear me, I can't quite find the words because we all feel so betrayed and powerless. We have to turn this moment into something meaningful. We have to use our voices on behalf of people who don't have one. That matters to me now in ways that hadn't even crossed my mind in my 20s."
So, it certainly sounds as though Winslet's intentions for a potential second season are worthy. We'll just have to see whether she and the show's writers can make another run of episodes work creatively.
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