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“Charlotte, aren’t you excited to be back?”
When asked this question during the opening moments fragment For season two of “Sanditon,” it sounds like a humorous nod to the show’s own history.
Based on Jane Austen’s last unfinished novel, “Sanditon” first aired in the UK in 2019 and was not renewed by its main broadcaster, ITV, after disappointing viewership numbers. However, the show, which received largely positive reviews, garnered a passionate following and subsequently a well-focused campaign “Sanditon,” a successful American run by fans and in early 2020, is now returning for at least two more seasons. Season 2 with six episodes Premiering on PBS’ “Masterpiece” on Sunday”
In the UK, the fan movement flooded social media with a series of angry messages after ITV canceled the show in December 2019. Fellowship of Sanditonstarted a massive Twitter campaign organized around #SaveSanditon hashtag.
“I was horrified when I heard he wasn’t coming back,” said Leilani Battiste, a San Francisco attorney who participated in the study. “It was so well done, there was a group of incredible women, there was a great romance, and then, like the book, the story didn’t end at the end of the season. Come on!”
Austen had written chapter 11 of Sanditon and had begun chapter 12 in early 1817 when he stopped working on it a few months before he died at the age of 41.
The unfinished novel, not published until 1925, is set in the quiet seaside town of Sanditon, which entrepreneur Tom Parker (played by Kris Marshall in the series) is trying to turn into a trendy resort. Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), a young woman from a humble farming family, befriends the Parkers after their car crashes near her home. She soon meets Tom’s dashing brother Sidney (Theo James) and learns about Georgiana Lambe (Crystal Clarke), a young West Indies heiress and Austen’s first big color character.
This goes as far as the Austen plot. But at the end of the show’s first season, both women’s romantic dreams have been crushed, leaving fans on a precipice over the fate of the Charlotte-Sydney romance.
“The exciting thing about having an unfinished Austen novel was that we were able to continue the story and set out to make a series that continues,” said Belinda Campbell, executive producer and general manager of Red Planet Pictures, which produced the series. “We finished the main love story without solving it because we hoped he would come back.”
While ITV was overwhelmed by the ratings in the UK, the show was a hit with US viewers when it first aired on PBS in January 2020. The premiere was the most-watched “Masterpiece” episode of the year, with an average viewership of more than 20 for the show. percent higher than the other “Masterpiece Classic” period dramas of the season. None of this came as a surprise to “Masterpiece” executive producer Susanne Simpson.
“We’ve done a lot of Austen adaptations – I knew our audiences would love ‘Sanditon,’ and they loved it,” he said in a video interview. “We’ve reached 8 million people, we’ve reached 4.5 million streams of the show, and we’ve attracted a much younger audience than we normally would, which is something we’ve always been looking for.”
But by then, ITV had already pulled the plug. But the show’s popularity on PBS sparked further backlash, with American viewers like Battiste joining the Twitter campaign. Sanditon Sisterhood also ran a letter-writing operation to producers and publishers.
“We had tweet targets like 20,000 tweets a day, we were doing zoom searches, we were communicating with each other every day,” Battiste said in a video call. “It turned into a really great community event.” (She added that the fraternity included “several Sanditon bros.”)
Campbell said the Red Planet received “trucks of fan letters” as the pandemic lockdown began in March 2020. “They were the most extraordinarily thoughtful, fun, creative efforts to show their passion for the show.”
One of the most inspiring shows came in September 2020, when Sanditon Sisterhood launched it, garnering international attention. a giant sand art drawing Charlotte and Sydney are on one of the beaches used during the filming of the show.
“It was smart tactics,” said Maurice Wheeler, CEO of We Are Family, a British marketing agency specializing in fandoms. They got 88,000 signatures to renew the show in a change.org petition; the sand art was huge and felt serious; and the Twitter campaign made the right people feel the size and weight of the fandom.”
“They also engaged and involved writers and actors.” “So I didn’t feel like there were a few fans on the wings.”
“Masterpiece” executive producer Simpson said the boom in support played a big part in giving producing partners ITV and BritBox the confidence to continue the series.
“We wanted him back; “The fans wanted him back.” “It was a matter of closing the funding gap.”
As “Masterpiece” was putting together the funding, Justin Young, who took over as head writer for Andrew Davies, and other producers began to consider what a second season would be like. (Davies remains a writer and executive producer.)
They also had to figure out which cast members could and would return – as it turns out, their romantic protagonist, James, didn’t want to come back. (“While I enjoyed playing Sydney, I always argued that for me her journey turned out the way I wanted,” said James. an idiom It was published last spring.)
“We tried well, but Theo stuck to his guns,” Young said. “At that point, no, that’s it,” I thought. But “Masterpiece” insisted that Young try other story lines.
“He asked me, ‘There’s a lady in the lead, why would she be left hanging on a cliff forever miserable just because Sydney’s gone?’ they said,” said Young.
PBS announced that “Sanditon” is returning in early May 2021. Young’s solution to the Sydney dilemma, with Davies’ approval, was a long-honored solution: He killed off the character to kick off the new season.
“We really wanted Charlotte and Georgiana to lead the season,” Young said. “We saw Georgiana through the lens of Charlotte and Sydney in the first series; Now there was a real opportunity to make a colorful character an equal hero.”
In a video interview, Clarke said she was initially unsure about returning to Georgiana. “I was concerned about the representation of the character and getting involved behind as well as in front of the camera,” she said.
However, the production said it has added more cast and crew members for the new season. And after “seeing all the love coming from Twitter” and hearing new story lines that will delve into the complexities of her character’s past, she was excited to return.
“I loved that we explored issues like the sugar boycott,” Clarke said. Campaign in the late 18th century by the abolitionist movement, which encouraged people to avoid goods produced by slaves in the West Indies. “Georgiana questions the paradox that her identity and the money that gives her privilege and freedom comes from the oppression of people like her. These ideas come out in Season 1, but they’re really central right now.”
It is also central to the independence of the female mind and spirit embodied by Georgiana and Charlotte. Despite the many Austenian suitors – a flamboyant colonel! a thoughtful widow! a brilliant artist! handsome solders! — the series strives to show that the two central women forge their own paths.
“I wanted to focus on Charlotte’s defiance and strength against the societal pressure of getting married,” Williams said in a video interview. “I always go back to the first time you saw Charlotte in the first series: She’s holding a shotgun in her hand, and to me it represents the confidence, capability and independence she’s always had.”
“This second series feels like Charlotte is finding a true sense of self,” she added.
This will be music to the ears of the show’s most ardent supporters. Sanditon Sisterhood’s Battiste said the spirit and independence of the female characters, and their close friendships, were a big part of the fanbase’s response to it so passionately.
“The series really focused on this incredible group of women and how they all got along from so many different backgrounds,” she said. “They take their fate into their hands more than any other Austen heroine we know. We love it.”
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