Cary Joji Fukunaga won’t return to Netflix’s ‘Maniac’ for a season 2

“Maniac” director Cary
Joji Fukunaga.
Steven
Ferdman/Getty

• “Maniac” director Cary Joji Fukunaga made it clear while
  speaking to Business Insider that if Netflix does a second season
  of the show, he will not be a part of it. 
• This is similar to his work on HBO’s “True Detective,” in
  which he directed all the episodes of the first season and then
  walked away.

 

If there turns out to be a second season of “Maniac” on Netflix,
Cary Joji Fukunaga will not be at the helm.

The latest project from the in-demand director launched on the
streaming giant on Friday. Very loosely based on the Norwegian TV
show of the same name, Jonah Hill and Emma Stone play two
strangers who meet at a facility that’s doing a pharmaceutical
trial. This leads the two on fantastical hallucinations to erase
the bad that’s inside them. 

It’s still unclear if Netflix even has plans to do a second
season, but Fukunaga is already making it clear that this for him
is one-and-done.

Jonah
Hill and Emma Stone in the Netflix series
“Maniac.”
Netflix

“For me, I like to do one and move onto something else,” Fukunaga
told Business Insider. “I’d be very happy if another season were
to happen, but I think they were just thinking about this as a
limited season and if there’s an appetite for another one then I
think [show creator] Patrick [Somerville] would be happy to take
it up and do it again. But not with me.”

This is not the first time Fukunaga has dazzled us with a
visually stunning limited series and then walked away. He did the
same thing on the hit HBO show, “True Detective.” 

But you can’t fault the director for taking this stance. He’s one
of the most sought-after filmmakers working today. That was made
evident on Thursday when it was announced that Fukunaga would be

taking over the reins of James Bond 25. 

It makes sense for him to continue to keep his options open.