Carnival Row season 2 has a lot of questions to answer!
This article contains major spoilers for Carnival Row season 1.
Amazon Prime Video’s magical-murder-mystery-hour Carnival Row hooked viewers up to an intricate mire of fantasy, drama, and sex — all in Victorian costume. The lavishly-built world might have a little less depth than breadth, but it’s still addictive enough to leave fans wanting more.
Luckily, Amazon ordered Carnival Row season 2 even before the first season dropped in late August. That means that fans can expect answers to the many questions left over the conclusion of season — which is good, because fanfiction can only go so far in scratching that itch!
There is no release date yet for Carnival Row season 2, so while we wait, we’ll spend time wondering the answers to the following questions about the series so far.
Pressing questions for ‘Carnival Row’ season 2 to answer
How will Vignette and Philo deal with the ghettoization of Carnival Row?
Carnival Row season 1 ends with the “critch” population of the Burgue herded together into a ghetto, forbidden to leave on pain of death. While life in the Burgue had never been a walk in the park for magical refugees, this new order from Sophie and Jonah is an ominous turn toward segregation — and quite possibly, the horrors that often accompany this kind of structural dehumanization.
How will Carnival Row season 2 handle ghettoization? How will Vignette, Philo, and Tourmaline deal with this increased persecution — and what do they plan to do about it?
Are Philo and Vignette OTP, or does Tourmaline still have a shot at her old flame?
On a much more intimate subject than systemic segregation and oppression, I’m still curious if Vignette and Philo’s star-crossed romance will survive Carnival Row season 2. While the couple seems to be comfortable in their romantic reunion, Tourmaline is clearly still carrying a torch for Vignette. Between the stresses of life in the ghetto, and Philo’s ability to “pass” in human society, could Vignette’s affections shift over the course of Carnival Row season 2?
Where are Agreus and Imogen heading, and can they escape from Ezra?
Speaking of romance, many questions also remain the show’s most (or, depending who you ask, second most) illicit love story in Carnival Row season 2. Agreus was among the last critch to leave the Burgue, and now he and Imogen are sailing away to what they hope is a better future. But their destination is unknown, and even assuming that love buoys the couple past their considerable differences, the season finale made it clear that it won’t be smooth sailing ahead.
Imogen’s brother Ezra is a total idiot, but he’s in hot pursuit, driven by prejudice against the faun Agreus. He may not look like much of a threat, but Ezra has murder on his mind, and that complicates even the firmest of plans… which, admittedly, Imogen and Agreus do not currently have.
Will Sophie and Jonah remain an undivided axis of incest and evil?
As a final twist of plot, Carnival Row season 1 revealed that Sophie Longerbane deliberately precipitated Piety Breakspear’s murder spree with a forged letter about Philo. But despite Sophie’s treachery, Jonah Breakspear has thrown in his lot with his half-sister and lover (YUP), and the two seem dead-set on purging the Burgue of all Fae.
Related: Carnival Row stars Orlando Bloom, Cara Delevingne discuss their new Amazon Prime series
But though he is admittedly a total ponce, Jonah is decidedly less ideologically motivated than Sophie. He has also had more interactions with Fae (given his tryst with Tourmaline) and is keeping the pro-Fae Runyon on as his advisor. So where is this maelstrom of sex, blood, and politics headed in Carnival Row season 2? Will Jonah go all-in on Sophie’s reign of terror? Or will he prove more moderate and less prejudiced like Absolom Breakspear, the man he believed was his father? And what will the consequences be if the young Breakspear breaks with Sophie — who has already proved herself more than capable of murder?
Will The Pact play a role in ‘Carnival Row’ season 2?
The Pact, invaders and colonizers of Tirnanoc, are posed as a high-level force of villainy in the first season of Carnival Row… when we see them, that is. For all of their awfulness, The Pact has little direct impact on the story. Viewers glean scraps of information on The Pact from introductory text and flashbacks, which don’t reveal much beyond penchants for brutality and steampunk-style blimps.
Still, The Pact looms in the background of Carnival Row. Will season 2 reveal more information, or perhaps the full extent of their power? Or will The Pact remain shadowed in mystery, another element of story held back for an uncertain future?
What about all those other guys?
Carnival Row season 2 also has plenty of miscellanies to deal with. What will Portia, Philo’s apparently repentant betrayer, do now that her lover has been imprisoned in the Fae ghetto? Is the radical fawn cult still at work now that Absalom Breakspear is dead? And what about the Black Raven, the faerie underground that accomplished relatively little in the first season?
Plus…
If Aoife needed Philo’s seed to make a darkasher connected to his life force… how did Piety Breakspear make a darkasher connected to her life force? Was there surgery involved? Ovum removed?
Admittedly, this is unlikely to be answered in Carnival Row season 2, but these are the questions that keep me up at night.
Carnival Row season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.