The debut season of Hulu's new series Woke was about a Black cartoonist finally coming to terms with the insidiousness of racism in America, and at the end of the season, he seemed to have fully woken up. But that doesn't mean the show is over. The season finale ended with a strong suggestion that another season is in the cards. So, will Woke Season 2 happen on Hulu? The streamer hasn't made any renewal or cancelation announcements, but it sounds like the show will continue.
Woke premiered on Wednesday, Sept. 9, dropping its full eight-episode debut season on Hulu. The show is a fictionalized retelling of a traumatic event in cartoonist Keith Knight's real life, when he was racially profiled by a police officer while hanging up a poster in San Francisco. Following that event, Knight began publishing comics that tackled real-world issues surrounding race. In Woke, Lamorne Morris plays Knight's fictionalized counterpart Keef, who begins to hear voices after being wrongfully detained by a cop. With some motivation from talking markers, garbage cans, and malt liquor bottles, Keef starts to call out the anti-Black racism around him.
Spoiler alert: The rest of this post contains spoilers from the Woke Season 1 finale. The end of the season brings things full circle, as Keef is finally forced to confront the cop that held a gun at him. Initially, Keef resigned himself to just getting the meeting over with and moving on with his life, but after the cop was dismissive and clearly unapologetic for his actions, Keef began taunting him by flicking beer at his face. The cop classified the splashes as assaulting an officer, which landed Keef behind bars for several hours.
The big surprise came when he was released: Keef walked out of the police station to a horde of cameras and reporters, realizing his act of defiance had made him a viral sensation. The final words of the season are Keef's marker saying, "And so it begins," suggesting the show may continue with another season.
In terms of material, there's a lot a second season of Woke could work with. The Season 1 finale seems to suggest a second season would center on Keef navigating his sudden, unexpected fame. Also, the first season of Woke was filmed before protests against police brutality broke out nationwide over the summer of 2020, so a second season could allow the show to more specifically address protesting and the Black Lives Matter movement.
As of Sept. 21, Hulu has not renewed Woke for Season 2, nor has the network canceled it, so fans will have to keep waiting for the decision to come soon.
