'Into The Badlands' Renewed For Season 2 By AMC; What We Know So Far

AMC can officially add another recurring hit to its already impressive crop of original TV shows. After surprising audiences with its six-episode first season, the network has announced that it will bring the martial arts drama “Into the Badlands” back for Season 2 in 2017.

The network announced the renewal on Tuesday, promising another 10 episodes of the show when it returns to AMC. In his announcement for the follow up season, network president Charlie Collier cited the show’s incredible visual imagery and complex storytelling as the key reasons that the program is coming back.

“With its deep dive into authentic martial arts, the visually stunning ‘Into the Badlands’ proved to be unlike anything else on television,” he said. “Co-creators and showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar, along with a talented team of producers, cast and crew, brought us an artfully crafted series. We’re eager to return to the world of barons and blades and spend even more time with these compelling and evolving characters across an expanded second season.”

While the highly stylized makeup of Season 1 was a big part of its renewal, no show would exist without decent ratings, which “Into the Badlands” certainly had. As Deadline notes, thanks to having the biggest show on TV, “The Walking Dead,” as its lead in, it delivered the third highest rated first season in the history of U.S. cable TV. It averaged a sizeable 5.6 million viewers per episode, including 3.4 million in the highly coveted adult 18-49 market.

At the moment, not much is known about the plotline of the second season. Following the six-episode arc of Season 1, the story can take as many twists and turns as it chooses. Speaking to the International Business Times in December, Aramis Knight, who plays M.K. on the hit drama, said that the only thing he knew about a second season at the time was the location of filming.

“I know [series creators] Al Gough and Miles Millar and [executive producer/series star] Daniel Wu recently got together in L.A.,” Knight said. “Daniel actually came over to my house to talk about the story arc and where things would go. They set a 90 percent location if we were to come back, which would be New Zealand. It's all up in the air right now, though.”

Are you excited for the show's return? Comment below or tweet your thoughts to @TylerMcCarthy.