There are more mysteries to solve in Florida. “Bad Monkey” is getting a second season at Apple TV+, with lead Vince Vaughn set to return as detective Andrew Yancy.
“I hope that people know that Carl Hiaasen is an idol of mine and an inspiration for me as a writer,” showrunner and executive producer Bill Lawrence said in a Tuesday press release. “To get to go on telling his story with Vince Vaughn and this great cast, at least the characters who are still alive, is very exciting. I’m very thankful to our partners at Apple TV+ and Warner Bros, as well as the entire team that helps bring this show to life.”
“Bad Monkey” follows a down-on-his-luck detective turned health inspector, Yancy, who gets caught up investigating a murder. Said murder leads him to the Bahamas, with plenty of run-ins with the oddball Florida locals — and a lot of people meeting sticky ends.
Speaking to IndieWire about the bloody, surprising Season 1 finale, writer Matt Tarses teased some potential Season 2 plans.
“Yancy is the main character in the next book called ‘Razor Girl,’ which, if we get to do another one, I think we’ll use at least part of [the book] or maybe the whole thing,” Tarses said at the time about the Hiasssen books. “Definitely it was always the idea to try to do at least two, maybe three seasons of the show. We love it.” (A source notes Season 2 won’t follow “Razor Girl.”)
Season 1 pretty definitively concluded with its Bahama murder mystery solved — meaning many Season 1 regulars like Rob Delaney, Meredith Hagner, and Zach Braff won’t be back. But a new mystery was teased in the final seconds of the first season, and Yancy’s love interest Rosa (Natalie Martinez) also seems likely to return for another round.
“‘Bad Monkey’ suffers from oppressively awful narration and obvious plot twists,” IndieWire’s Ben Travers wrote in his review of Season 1. “Too many people die for the dangers to be taken as lightly as Yancy’s banter suggests, and too many people illogically evade certain death for the story to feel like it has any actual stakes. There’s a sizable B-plot featuring Jodie Turner-Smith’s Gracie — a Bahamian woman suffering a crisis of faith regarding how best to abide by her grandmother’s African religion — that never gels with the bright white A-story. …Still, ‘Bad Monkey’ mostly plays as an easy-going crowd-pleaser.”
“Since ‘Bad Monkey’ first made its debut on Apple TV+, this highly entertaining series became an instant fan-favorite,” Matt Cherniss, the head of programming for Apple TV+, said in a press release. “Led by the incomparable Vince Vaughn as ‘Andrew Yancy,’ alongside a brilliant ensemble cast, we can’t wait for everyone to experience more hilarious, sun-soaked, beachy misadventures from the mind of Bill Lawrence as the temperature rises even further in the next chapter of this engrossing murder-mystery.”
No word on if the titular monkey will return — but PETA is hoping that’s a hard no.
“Bad Monkey” Season 1 is now streaming on Apple TV+.