Summary

• Riley Keough shines in miniseries format, with successful true crime miniseries Under The Bridge earning high praise.
• Daisy Jones & The Six's self-contained story doesn't need a second season, as the fate of characters was already revealed.
• Keough's talents are best showcased in miniseries, allowing for deep character exploration without the need for multiple seasons.

The success of Riley Keough’s new miniseries confirms that Daisy Jones & The Six not getting a second season is secretly a good thing. 2023’s Daisy Jones & The Six adapted the book of the same name by author Taylor Jenkins Reid as a ten-episode miniseries. The show charted the rise and fall of the titular singer and her band, whose fame was cut short by in-fighting and a messy love triangle with Daisy herself at the center. Although reviews of Daisy Jones & The Six were mixed, Riley Keough’s performance as the title character earned acclaim and an Emmy nomination for the star.

Since the ending of Daisy Jones & The Six jumped forward in time to fill in the rest of the story, it wasn’t clear whether the project would get a second season. The band’s stories were fairly self-contained and Daisy’s arc came to a satisfying conclusion, so Daisy Jones & The Six season 2 risked becoming a superfluous, unnecessary attempt to revisit the world of Reid’s novel. In April 2024, Keough told Variety that she hadn’t heard anything about a second season of the series, and this confirms a trend that has emerged throughout the actor’s last few years of work.

Under The Bridge & Daisy Jones Confirm That Riley Keough's Best TV Shows Are Miniseries

Keough’s Talents Are Particularly Well Suited To The Miniseries Format

The actor’s new true crime miniseries Under The Bridge earned a superb 85% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, proving that Riley Keough’s best television shows are ones that stick to the miniseries format. Although her 2022 hit The Terminal List was renewed for a second season, that project boasts the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score among the star’s TV shows. Keough seemingly thrives in the miniseries format, where the actor can dive deep into a character’s story and tell their entire story without a second season. While Daisy Jones & The Six’s large cast all had separate subplots, its story was always self-contained.

Some shows, like most sitcoms, are designed to last for as many seasons as possible. Others, like Netflix’s Stranger Things, were initially envisioned as a limited series and eventually expanded into a bigger story upon their renewal. However, some TV series are designed to be self-contained, as is the case with both Under The Bridge and Daisy Jones & The Six. Since both shows are based on books, their stories are limited to their source material despite a few changes. When books based on shows are renewed, the results can be disastrous. The critical reactions to 13 Reasons Why’s later seasons epitomize this.

Daisy Jones & The Six Season 2's Story Already Happened

The Taylor Jenkins Reid Adaptation Had A Self-Contained Story

The main reason that Daisy Jones & The Six doesn’t need a second season is that the show has already told viewers what would happen in a follow-up. Although Daisy Jones & The Six changed the band's story somewhat, the fate of every band member and the ending of Daisy's love triangle were all spelled out in the final episode. The plot of a potential second season was told through the band's interviews and the extra epilogue where Daisy & Billy reunite, which wasn’t in the book. With that in mind, the story of Daisy Jones & The Six season 2 would inevitably feel redundant.