With plenty more Brothers Grimm stories to adapt, The Grimm Variations Season 2 seems like a no-brainer. Netflix hasn’t confirmed a renewal yet, but Season 1 has been well-received and the concept has legs.
That concept, which sees classic fairytales retold through the animation of WIT Studio and the character designs of the all-female mangaka team CLAMP, will be relying on strong viewing figures to secure a renewal.
What Stories Could Be Adapted in Season 2?
Season 2 of The Grimm Variations has a substantial catalog of material to draw from. There are over 200 Brothers Grimm stories in various volumes, and while the first season plucked some of the most popular ones, including Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood, there are many more well-known tales that could be given a similar treatment.
My suggestions would be a collection of similarly recognizable works like Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White, and Rapunzel, with perhaps a few lesser-known outliers for experimental purposes. It’s possible that if Season 2 is commissioned after a popular Season 1 run, the episode order could expand with a greater budget, giving more scope for selecting stories that appeal to the creative team rather than being limited to the more obvious ones.
Part of the appeal of The Grimm Variations is turning these stories on their heads, making them darker and edgier, or retelling them in radically new contexts. This would likely exclude a lot of stories that were already very dark to begin with, like Death’s Messenger or The King of the Golden Mountain.
It Could Be A Long Wait
It’s early to speculate about Season 2 since the first season only debuted on April 17, 2024, and the relevant data is still being collated.
On this occasion that data is more important than ever since the show already has all the right elements for Season 2. There is no shortage of source material, Season 1 was well-received critically, and the first season combined the efforts of several extremely talented creative teams. However, Netflix are not known to make investments that they don’t think will produce a return, so they’ll be keeping a very close eye on the viewership in the coming weeks.
It’s worth pointing out that animation can be very expensive, especially when it’s done to this kind of standard, and WIT Studio have a reputation to maintain. That means that even if The Grimm Variations is renewed for Season 2, it probably won’t arrive on our screens any time soon.
Early Signs Are Positive
The good news is that The Grimm Variations has had a positive reception among critics and viewers, which is a positive early sign.
In our review, we said:
The Grimm Variations excels by thinking more about who these characters are and what the stories mean and then repackaging them within new settings and genres. Yes, there is a deliberate juxtaposition between the idealistic underpinnings of a classic fairytale and the decidedly bleak way they’re reimagined, and yes, there is a lot of gore and nastiness that feels, now and again, like overkill. But that’s not all there is.
Other publications like LeisureByte and Decider echoed our positive sentiments and urged you to stream the show. Paste Magazine liked it too. There aren’t enough reviews on Rotten Tomatoes yet for the show to have a critical or audience rating, but on IMDb, The Grimm Variations is sitting on a decent, if not perfect, 6.6/10.
