13 Reasons Why won't shy away from its critics in Season 2.
Netflix's high-school drama — which quickly became 2017's most tweeted-about show when it debuted last spring, according to Variety — unleashed a storm of controversy for its graphic depiction of the suicide of 17-year-old protagonist Hannah Baker (Katherine Langford), who leaves behind a series of tapes describing the events and people who led her to take her own life.
The new season, streaming Friday, aims to rectify that from the get-go. It begins with a cast-led public-service announcement urging viewers to seek help, watch with an adult or not at all if they are struggling with suicidal thoughts, sexual assault or substance abuse. And creator Brian Yorkey has said the series won't depict another suicide.
Instead, new episodes focus on the aftermath of Hannah's death, as Clay Jensen (Dylan Minnette) and classmates testify in court when Hannah's parents sue the high school for neglecting their bullied daughter's requests for help. The season also explores how Jessica (Alisha Boe) comes to terms with her rape last season, and features a timely new storyline about a series of sexual assaults connected to one of the school's athletic teams.
Yorkey chats with USA TODAY about the 13 Reasons' backlash and how the drama addresses the Me Too movement and a potential school shooting.
Question: Hannah's death impacts everyone in different ways when Season 2 picks up. How big of a role will she play on and offscreen?
Brian Yorkey: She is very present in flashbacks, but every one of those kids on each tape has their side of the story to tell. Hannah stars in those stories, and we'll also see some things that Hannah didn't tell us that happened in the past. At the same time, Hannah is a presence in Clay's life in the present day, as he's working to get to that point in the grieving process where he can forgive her for the choice she made and say goodbye.
Q: You started writing this season last spring, months before sexual assault and harassment allegations made headlines. Did you go back and rework any storylines in light of Me Too?
Yorkey: All of those things that are in our season were written before any of this happened. We follow these characters (and) want to bring into their lives issues young people are facing. The fact that those issues have also moved to the forefront of the real-world conversation is a great thing. We're all about starting conversations and keeping them going.
Q: What kinds of research did you do to better understand young people's experiences with sexual assault?
Yorkey: We have a number of different consultants we work with, one of whom is a lawyer who is an advocate for many young people who are victims of sexual assault in high-school settings. We also have an adolescent psychiatrist and psychologist, who talk a lot about what the survivor experience is. Unfortunately, there's a tremendous amount of news reports in recent years of young people facing sexual assault, and those were all things that we discovered in our research and that made sense for us to write into the show.
Q: Last season, we also saw that Hannah's friend, Tyler (Devin Druid), has guns and ammunition stashed in his bedroom. Could he be planning a shooting?
Yorkey: With Tyler, we are very interested in trying to understand the mindset of a young man who has been bullied, is suffering from severe social isolation and might be thinking about making a tragic choice in response to those feelings. Without giving anything away, we're much more interested in exploring his experience than we are in expressing the worst possible outcome.
Q: The show received its fair share of criticism for its depiction of suicide in Season 1. Do you feel that any of the backlash was unwarranted?
Yorkey: This is going to sound like a political answer, but I truly believe that all conversation is good. I would be lying if I said I wasn't affected by some of the strongly negative reactions to the show, because it's a show I'm very proud of. But in the bigger picture, positive or negative, there were really intense conversations happening, and many of them were not happening before the show. You can't have that kind of impact without some real polarity in the opinions, and I'm grateful for all of it.
'13 Reasons Why' Discussion Guide by WKYC.com on Scribd