McMafia author denies season two has been axed
Misha Glenny, the author of McMafia, has denied reports suggesting a second season of the TV show has been cancelled.
On Tuesday, The Sun reported that the crime drama, starring James Norton, had been quietly shelved by the BBC, citing the actor's busy schedule and the war in Ukraine as reasons for its cancellation.
However, journalist Glenny, who wrote the non-fiction book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld, took to Twitter to deny the reports on Wednesday.
"Hello everyone, as the author of McMafia, the book, and an Executive Producer on the TV show, let me tell you reports in the Sun and the Mail that the BBC has dropped the show are in fact, to use a technical term, 'complete b**locks'. Very much on track for Season 2," he stated.
The original 2018 series starred Norton as businessman Alex Godman, the British-raised son of a Russian mafia boss living in London. He is reluctantly sucked into the dark affairs of his gangster relatives.
A TV insider told The Sun that it "wasn't a good look" for the show to continue for a second season following Russia's invasion of Ukraine last month.
"McMafia has been beset by problems, ranging from the pandemic to the fact James Norton's booming career meant it was hard to pin him down to start filming," the insider said. "But it also wasn't a good look to start a second series of a show where the main protagonist is a gangster from a dodgy Russian family who ultimately triumphs on the back of a string of dark deeds."
