If there’s one thing we can agree on, it is the acting prowess of Toni Collette, a fact demonstrated fabulously in the Netflix series, Pieces of Her.
The 8-episode season aired in 2022 and follows the complex dynamic between Laura (Collette) and her young wayward daughter, Andy (Bella Heathcote). While dining together in their sleepy town, a random act of violence erupts and causes Laura to act. Her quick thinking saves her daughter from a shooting and causes the news to broadcast her story. That is when Andy realizes the life she thought she knew was all a lie.
Laura forces Andy to go on the run, implying some terrible people will be looking for her. The rest of the season culminates in Andy’s discovery of who her mother truly is and why she had been lying about her identity this entire time. The show is interspersed with flashbacks of Laura’s youth and gives context to the conflict at hand. And while Andy comes to understand the basics of her mother’s secrecy, there are many twists and turns in this story that could be a foundation for more episodes.
Will Pieces of Her get a season 2?
It is a common practice for Netflix to leave many of their shows in limbo. Juggernauts like Squid Game and Stranger Things are quick to get greenlit for more seasons, but if shows aren’t a phenomenon, they often fall by the wayside. After Pieces of Her premiered, it did not reach the overwhelming success other shows had. While Collette was celebrated for her nuanced portrayal of the traumatized Laura, other elements were less impressive. The show has earned a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, which does not bode well for its future.
Netflix has not officially canceled Pieces of Her, but it was unlikely to have gotten a season 2. This fact doesn’t have anything to do with quality, but because the series was advertised as a limited series. Adapted from the 2018 novel by Karin Slaughter, the plot follows the original story pretty much to the letter
And what a story it was. In typical Netflix thriller fashion, the reason that Laura changed her identity had everything to do with a past lover. In her youth, she was Jane Queller, the daughter of a wealthy family. As an act of rebellion, she falls for Nick (Joe Dempsie), who becomes the leader of a terrorist organization. Nick’s behavior escalates violently, and when Jane realizes she’s pregnant with Andy, she finds a way to escape. But the authorities are still after Nick 30 years later, and Jane appearing on the news as Laura meant that he had a one-way ticket to finding her and their daughter together.
This plot all comes to fruition in the season’s conclusion, and all’s well that ends well. Nick finally gets arrested, and the two women no longer have to live in fear. The story is told concisely in the 8-episode stretch. With Slaughter’s book being told in its entirety, there is little demand for a continuation of the story.