Image: Netflix
In case you can imagine it, it’s been three years since Netflix’s bold, area of interest, and critically acclaimed grownup animated collection The Midnight Gospel was formally introduced to be canceled after solely a single season. Whereas the podcast lives on, the Netflix present remains to be extremely regarded and if you happen to questioned what season 2 would possibly’ve regarded like, we simply acquired a new “leak” exhibiting simply that…
The information comes by way of the Duncan Trussell Household Hour podcast, or extra particularly, the stay stream model of the podcast, provided that the clip didn’t function within the pre-recorded model of the podcast. Nonetheless, a lot of the commentary nonetheless stays.
Duncan Trussell begins the solo podcast, teasing that The Midnight Gospel would function in the direction of the tip, however was mysterious about what precisely can be proven. When the tip of the podcast does roll round, he begins clearing up a query he all the time will get: Is there going to be a second season? The reply remains to be no, and he desires to verify folks don’t get their hopes up. “We’re not doing one other season,” he says bluntly. “Just need to eradicate any hope you may need there.” But as an alternative of venting frustration, Duncan focuses on what he calls the “miraculous” proven fact that the present even acquired made in any respect earlier than showcasing a model new mockup trailer.
“You must perceive how insane it was that Netflix allow us to make that present,” he says. “That present by no means ought to have gotten made,” Duncan emphasizes how uncommon it was for Netflix to assist one thing so bizarre, philosophical, and non-traditional. Much more surprising was that the animation occurred completely within the U.S., a rarity in an business the place work is often outsourced to cheaper studios overseas. “The animators had been all at Titmouse, an in-house animation crew,” Duncan explains.
He admits he by no means regarded on the finances as a result of he didn’t need monetary considerations to have an effect on the artistic course of. “I might have regarded on the finances… however I by no means regarded as a result of I didn’t need that to impression me feeling free to give you concepts with Pendleton [Ward].” Still, he has no illusions about the fee: “It will need to have been fucking costly. It needed to have been.”
So why didn’t Netflix renew it? In keeping with Duncan, it’s easy: the numbers weren’t there. “It’s a enterprise,” he says. “They’re attempting to make cash. There’s most likely a crystal clear set of numbers that justify paying more cash for one more season. And The Midnight Gospel didn’t get that originally.” The present didn’t generate the type of quick, bingeable engagement Netflix seems to be for, particularly not the type that justifies a second season of such an costly undertaking.
Duncan calls the present “a boutiquey, artsy, philosophical loopy present,” and notes it’s not precisely Stranger Issues. “It offers with some heavy obligation fucking shit,” he says. “I might see how somebody who wasn’t into that stuff… wouldn’t stick round with that present.” In the end, he acknowledges that the present wasn’t constructed for mass attraction, and that’s okay. “That’s simply the way it works,” he says.
After reflecting on this, Duncan surprises viewers of the stay stream with a wild and heartfelt reveal: he secretly made a trailer for what a second season might have regarded like and put collectively mentioned trailer with some collaborators from season 1.
Amongst these collaborators? None apart from Jesse Moynihan, one of many primary animators from the unique present, and American rapper Lil Yachty, who voiced a character within the trailer named Daniel Hoops, along with cameos from comedians Ron White and Ian Fidance.
So why make the trailer in any respect? Duncan says it merely: “I noticed it’s type of unhappy to not share it with folks. Like, what am I doing?” And with that, he shares the trailer stay on the podcast’s video stream. A glimpse into what might have been.
That season 2 clip will not be within the podcast we’ve embedded above.
On the finish of the podcast, Duncan jokingly pleads with the stay stream viewers to not leak the key trailer, saying, “Undoubtedly no one, if anyone was like recording this, don’t, don’t share that. That’d be horrible.” He threatens leakers with escalating and extreme punishments: “In case you leak, it’ll be a 10-minute ban if you come again—minimal… perhaps a 15-minuter. We’ve by no means performed a 15-minuter.” Concluding, he provides, “I understand how the web works, which is that if you happen to ask folks to not leak one thing, they gained’t.”
That is the place we come to the truth that, sure, somebody did leak the video. A YouTube channel aptly named Daniel Hoops, who will undoubtedly be the recipient of a 10-minute ban or worse, posted the complete 5-minute secret trailer:
Image: Duncan Trussell Household Hour
Image: Duncan Trussell Household Hour
Image: Duncan Trussell Household Hour
Are you continue to dissatisfied that The Midnight Gospel gained’t be returning for a second season at Netflix? Tell us within the feedback.
