Picture: Netflix
News broke today that Netflix has decided not to go ahead with Season 2 of the Hindi series Kaala Paani (“Dark Water“). The streamer announced a second-season pickup on November 12, 2023, less than a month after Kaala Paani initially debuted.
The survival thriller series spent two weeks in the Global Top 10 for non-English series, earning a spot in the Top 10 lists of 11 individual countries upon its debut. It won awards for Best Director (Sameer Saxena) and Best Original Story (Biswapati Sarkar) at the 2024 Filmfare OTT Awards, along with more than a dozen other awards victories and nominations.
What is Kaala Paani about?
In Kaala Paani, thousands of tourists descend on the Andaman and Nicobar islands for a festival right as a mysterious illness breaks out. Doctors race to uncover the nature of the illness and find a cure while politicians try to prevent panic in this thriller about the intersection of sociology and ecology. The first episode of Kaala Paani — titled “Nature Wins” — is available for free on Netflix India’s YouTube channel.
The series stars Mona Singh (Laal Singh Chaddha), Sukant Goel (Ghost Stories), Amey Wagh (Aiyyaa), Arushi Sharma (Jaadugar), and Ashutosh Gowariker (Swades).
What happened to Kaala Paani season 2?
According to a report at PeepingMoon.com by Rahul Raut, Netflix and Kaala Paani showrunner Sameer Saxena have been at odds over the series’ budget for at least a month. The report’s source says, “The show required a substantial budget to match the envisioned scale, but Netflix is believed to have declined to approve the proposed funding.” This comes amid a wider pullback in investments across the streaming industry, with the report mentioning massive reductions in production budgets, even to amounts previously agreed upon.
Adding to the disappointment is that Kaala Paani Season 2 was slated to begin pre-production on May 1, with filming scheduled to start in August with a cast and crew that had already been locked in. While series cancellations are nothing new at Netflix, it’s rare to see it happen to a series that was officially renewed and so close to starting production. While series renewal reversals are rare, they do happen from time to time.
Despite this, Netflix has a large number of Indian series returning for future seasons. Season 3 of Dehli Crime and season 2 of Rana Naidu have both completed and are due out later in 2025 with other renewals being handed to She, Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein, Guns & Gulaabs, Maamla Legal Hai, and Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar.
Are you sad to see Kaala Paani Season 2 cancelled? Let us know in the comments below!
