How to End with an Opening: TV Series Continuity and Metadaptation
Résumé
This chapter examines the narrative and aesthetic strategies used by TV series screenwriters and showrunners to expand the adaptation of a novel beyond the first season. Not only do they have to respect and transcend the constraints of the choices made for the first season adaptation, but they have to introduce new plotlines to extend the narrative beyond the original frame. Based on a detailed analysis of three case studies (13 Reasons Why, The Handmaid’s Tale and The Leftovers), this chapter demonstrates that endings prove key moments in the transition to a second season by providing leads for continuity revolving around metafictional considerations.