Kate Winslet Is Down For Mare Of Easttown Season 2

Like True Detective before it, HBO’s Mare of Easttown’s mystery and small-town dynamics quickly grabbed audiences’ imaginations. It wasn’t long before the identity of Erin McMenamin’s killer was the talk of social media. The finale didn’t disappoint, either, and so many viewers tuned in, HBO Max crashed, marking the first time an HBO app has been overwhelmed since Game of Thrones ended. So, will Mare Of Easttown Season 2 happen? Actor Kate Winslet says she’d love to return.

Warning: Mild Spoilers for Mare Of Easttown’s finale follow. Mare Sheehan doesn’t seem like a character one would want to get to know. She’s prickly and cranky and pushes everyone around her away — and that’s just how she handles the people she loves. The people she’s much less fond of, like, say, the late Colin Zabel (Evan Peters), find she’s almost impossible. But under that tough exterior, Mare turned out to be a fascinating character. She’s the ideal of what people want a small-town detective to be: one part social worker, one part sympathetic ear, and one part law enforcement officer you can trust.

Fans aren’t the only ones who have fallen in love with Mare. Winslet has too. “I miss her. I really do. It’s the strangest thing. I feel like I’m in mourning.” Winslet told TVLine. “There’s something very addictive about Mare because she’s so outrageous and lovable and brilliant and real, you know? I loved playing her.”

But although Winslet is an executive producer on the project, it’s unclear if HBO intends to continue the series. For one thing, it’s hard to argue there’s more story to tell. Mare of Easttown was a story of grief; how, in Mare’s words, you learn to live with “the unacceptable.” By the show’s final minutes, Lori (Julianne Nicholson) had accepted the collapse of her family, just as Mare had Kevin’s (Cody Kostro) suicide. The last shot of her heading to the attic to sit where her son died was Mare at peace, finding her way out of the darkness.

Moreover, Mare of Easttown is not currently a long-term show; HBO billed it as a “limited series.” Of course, that doesn’t mean HBO can’t change this. Big Little Lies, for example, was initially conceived of as a limited series before it became a smash hit and got itself a second season.

And although show writer Brad Inglesby has admitted he doesn’t have an idea for Season 2 in mind, he’s not totally against it. He told Esquire: “I love Mare... I would only do it if I was convinced we could make it great, though. I wouldn’t do it just because you have a chance to do it. I would want to make sure that it was as rich and compelling as I hope this season has been.”

Fans will have to wait and see if he can be convinced. Until then, all seven episodes of Mare of Easttown are streaming on HBO Max.