We've been waiting months for A League of Their Own season 2 news, but the report that just broke is a truly mixed bag. While the series is coming back, it won't exactly mirror the first season of Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson's Prime Video TV series that's based on the 1992 Penny Marshall film of the same name.
A story from The Hollywood Reporter just confirmed the early leak from Puck News' entertainment industry insider Matthew Belloni. In his What I'm Hearing column, he claimed "Amazon just greenlit a second season of A League of Their Own." And now we know the length of the final season, thanks to THR: four episodes.
And this will be the end of the series, as THR notes "The Sony Pictures Television-produced show will conclude with a four-episode final season. The news follows months of renegotiations with Sony to lower the show’s licensing fee and after the cast had to sign new deals given the order is for half the episodes that were featured in season one, sources say."
Fans have been waiting since August 12, 2022 (the show's release) for this news.
And while that will be music to the ears of the fans of the series, Belloni also noted the renewal came with caveats that sound as if Amazon doesn't want to spend a lot on this series. He writes that A League of Their Own "be no more than five episodes," a far cry from the eight episodes of the first season.
Oh, and we may see a slightly different-looking series, as "the per-episode budget will come down" as well.
Those were the requirements, he claims, for Amazon head of TV Vernon Sanders to renew A League of Their Own, one of the best shows on Amazon Prime Video. Tom's Guide reached out to Amazon Prime Video for comment, and we will update this story if we learn more.
Analysis: A half of a renewal explained
Fans want their favorite shows renewed, so this won't be seen as bad news overall. But with at least a 38% shorter season, and a smaller budget, supporters of the series may be wondering why Amazon's cutting Graham and Jacobsen's show down.
While the series spent 62 days in Prime Video's Top 10 TV shows list in the U.S., according to FlixPatrol, Belloni makes it sound as if we're lucky to get this renewal.
In his article, Belloni preceded the renewal news with the note that it "Seems like the default mode for TV outlets these days is to pull the plug on shows with niche audiences." He also stated that this news would likely "please those few but very active fans on social media who have been irate over the delay."
Graham, earlier today, tweeted that "The one thing I'll say at this moment: #ALeagueOfTheirOwn is not a small or niche show. The audience is domestic, but our understanding is that it's very big. It has outperformed many other shows that have been renewed. Journalists, please stop reinforcing the narrative [1/2] That POC/Queer shows are inherently niche or small if you don't have data. That narrative is racist and homophobic and all the other stuff. Please cover these things with some thought and care. [2/2]
In a way, that makes this sound like Amazon's trying to lower its investment in the series, as it doesn't exactly see the show as a huge earner for Prime Video.
This reduced season would likely be around 5 hours long at the most, something like two feature-length movies. One wonders if this is Amazon's way of giving the series a chance to end on its own terms.
