Hannah Baker may have dominated the first season of "13 Reasons Why" with her death, but she hauntingly returns for its upcoming second season. According to showrunner Brian Yorkey, new angles of Hannah's life will be explored, but a different character might also edge her out from major airtime on the show.
Yorkey told Vanity Fair that in the show's efforts to somewhat veer away from the character played by Australian actress Katherine Langford, "13 Reasons Why" will also focus on Hannah's one-time best friend from Liberty High, Jessica Davis (Alisha Boe). In an interview with Entertainment, Yorkey said that they do not intend to leave the storyline about Jessica's rape incident with Bryce Walker (Justin Prentice) hanging.
"I want to see how that at least starts to play out and I want to do Jessica's story the deserved justice of following her as she goes back to school, as she tries to begin to recover from what happened to her, because it's something that millions of young women go through. And also [I want to] see somebody punch Bryce in the face," said Yorkey.
The showrunner also confirmed that Hannah will no longer be the voice-over that threads the entire show. The focus on Hannah will mostly be during flashbacks throughout the season, but the voice-overs and stories are also set to bring the storyline back and forth through time. As for the tapes? They are "still obviously on people's minds, but there is a different sort of analog technology that plays a hugely important role in season 2," said Yorkey.
"13 Reasons Why" will still bring much focus on the way society dictates how boys should be raised as men, and the way girls and women are treated, according to Yorkey.
Other characters will also be introduced in the upcoming season, such as a new head cheerleader and "it" girl, a beloved baseball coach, a mischief maker, a secretive track star, and other central characters, all pivotal to the events that stem from Liberty High.
Season 2 will have 13-hour-long episodes, which fans have to wait for, until executive producer Selena Gomez releases further details. However, the series is expected to debut on Netflix sometime in 2018.
