Ryan O'Connell navigates love and Leslie Jordan in Special season 2 trailer
If Special is going out, then it's going out bigger and bolder than ever.
The acclaimed short-form series from Ryan O'Connell was canceled by Netflix after two seasons, but what was once a batch of 15-minute episodes has been upgraded to 30 minutes each. EW's exclusive trailer debut for the final season offers a glimpse into how this extra bit of real estate will be used to flesh out the stories even more.
"Netflix told me pretty early on that it was going to be the final season and I appreciated that because I was able to craft a season that felt very much like a final season," O'Connell said previously. "The story will feel complete."
Special, inspired by O'Connell's experience living as a gay man with cerebral palsy, follows his character Ryan, who's still dealing with the heartaches of love and "inspiration porn" heading into season 2.
"Ryan ended season 1 feeling very triumphant," O'Connell told EW in an interview way back in May 2020. "He was like, I conquered cerebral palsy, everything's good. He quickly realizes that just by being honest with who you are is only part of the struggle. He still has a lot of issues regarding disability. Not everything is Footloose and fancy free."
The new trailer prefaces that it's been two months since O'Connell's character Ryan last spoke with his mom, Karen (Jessica Hecht). It also seems that he's no longer with Carey (Augustus Prew). There's a new man in his life (Max Jenkins), but that man already has a boyfriend. So... there's that.
Punam Patel also gets an expanded role as Kim. The "time constraints" of writing for the first season of eight 15-minute-long episodes proved difficult in giving more space for the character to flourish on screen.
"It really was a two-hander, Ryan and Karen," O'Connell said of that initial order. "But once Punam started embodying Kim, you're like, 'Oh my God! I want to go home with Kim. What's Kim doing? What is she doing on the f---ing weekend? I want to be with her.' So, in season 2, you really do get to be with Kim a lot more, and she definitely gets a richer interior life separate from Ryan. It's really, really exciting cause she just knocks it out of the park."
Season 2 also features actors like Russian Doll darling Charlie Barnett, Tales From the Loop and Horse Girl's Lauren Weedman, and newly minted Instagram influencer Leslie Jordan.
Oh, and it'll have "a lot more gay sex," O'Connell promises. "Just a lot more sex in general, which I love. Going through the scenes, you're like, 'Oh my God. Lol. Were we ever so close?' We're afraid of touching people [in the pandemic] and here the characters are fake f---ing each other and you're like, 'Wow, what a time to be alive.'"
Special season 2 will premiere on Netflix this May 20. Watch the trailer above.
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