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The Flight Attendant season 2: Everything we know about the HBO Max series
The Flight Attendant, one of HBO Max‘s first original series after the WarnerMedia streamer launched in May 2020, became a huge, buzz-worthy hit, and a welcome distraction in the early, uncertain days of COVID-19.
Kaley Cuoco, best known for roles in 8 Simple Rules and The Big Bang Theory, shone brightly as the star of this sleeper hit about a flight attendant pulled into a dark world of murder and espionage after a bender overseas. Cuoco nabbed a well-deserved Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her inspired performance.
Equal parts Alfred Hitchcock and workplace comedy, The Flight Attendant was a 2020 standout.
The first season of The Flight Attendant premiered November 26, 2020, on HBO Max. It was HBO Max’s number one series overall during its run. The show was a huge hit with critics too, and it earned several award nominations. Season two was similarly popular with critics.
Here’s what you need to know about The Flight Attendant, from plot descriptions, to casting, to the possibility of a third season, and more.
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What happened in season 1 of The Flight Attendant?
Season 1 of The Flight Attendant follows Cassie Bowden, the titular flight attendant who quickly gets embroiled in a deadly conspiracy involving one of the travellers on her flight to Bangkok.
Cassie wakes up after a characteristically boozey one-night-stand with the handsome, fabulously wealthy Alex Sokolov. But there’s a problem. Her bedmate is dead, seemingly murdered while she slept beside him.
The Flight Attendant is a dark, witty, and fun modern-day send-up of Hitchcock classics like The 39 Steps and North By Northwest.
Afraid of taking the blame (or that maybe she did it before blacking out drunk), Cassie returns home to New York, where she juggles FBI agents, assassins, suspicious friends, rich people behaving badly, a thorny family history, and Alex’s ghost.
Cassie has to fight for her life and to find out what happened in Bangkok in this dark, witty, and fun modern-day send-up of Hitchcock classics like The 39 Steps and North By Northwest.
What happened in The Flight Attendant season 2?
“Season two will feature Cassie in a new adventure,” HBO Max said in a statement soon after announcing the second season.
At the time, Cuoco told Deadline that season two will likely focus on Cassie’s “sober journey” following the booze-heavy first season. “I think she’s going to learn very quickly that this is a life-long struggle and she’s going to be way over her head.”
Showrunner Steve Yockey told The New York Times that the show would also continue to draw influence from Alfred Hitchcock, likely using “a new Hitchcock movie for Cassie to stumble into.”
Sure enough, the season 2 storyline sees Cassie globetrotting once again, and she is indeed fighting her past demons in AA. The new season features numerous doppelgangers, harking back to Hitchcock’s Vertigo most obviously. We also catch hints of Rear Window and more of the master of suspense’s influence throughout.
Cassie is now working with the CIA, offering help where she can as a flight attendant. But Cassie likes to get overinvolved, and that gets her mixed up in a murder plot, putting a new target on her back while her friends and family struggle to keep up.
Will there be a third season of The Flight Attendant?
Anything’s possible. That was the main takeaway from star and producer Cucoco when she spoke to Variety about a possible third season.
“I’ve learned in my life never say never — that’s my biggest advice. So I’m definitely open to it,” she told the entertainment trade.
Of course, she spoke those worlds after suggesting that “the plane has landed,” hinting that the show had wrapped up for good after its second season.
Since HBO Max has yet to announce any more episodes, it seems increasingly likely that there will be no The Flight Attendant season 3.
Still, “never say never.”
When and where can I watch The Flight Attendant?
The second season came as something of a surprise, as season one was billed as a limited series. The Flight Attendant joins shows like HBO’s Big Little Lies and Hulu’s The Great which earned second seasons despite being launched as mini or limited series.
The Flight Attendant season two premiered on HBO Max on April 21, 2022, with two new episodes rolling out each week thereafter.
You can currently watch both seasons, in their entirety, on HBO Max.
Is The Flight Attendant based on a book?
Season 1 of The Flight Attendant is based on the novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian.
Season two moved away from the novel’s inspiration since the whole thing was adapted in the first outing.
Setting aside plot differences between the book and series, The Flight Attendant novel has no sequels as of yet. Its story is complete, and it already played out onscreen.
That means the show’s writers had some wiggle room with their new storyline in season 2. It’s still based on the novel, in that the characters are borrowed from Bohjalian, but anyone who’s done the reading ahead of time will go in just as unspoiled as the rest of us.
Who’s involved in The Flight Attendant season 2?
Returning cast in The Flight Attendant Season 2
Kaley Cuoco is back as Cassie in The Flight Attendant season two.
Joining her are season one co-stars Zosia Mamet, Michelle Gomez, Griffin Matthews, Deniz Akdeniz, and Rosie Perez, as well as recurring guest stars T.R. Knight, Yasha Jackson, and Audrey Grace Marshall.
New cast members
New actors joining the main cast in season two include the following:
- Mo McRae as Benjamin Berry, a career CIA officer with a bad habit of getting too involved with his assets.
- Callie Hernandez as Gabrielle Diaz, a bounty hunter with impulse control issues.
- JJ Soria as Esteban Diaz, Gabrielle’s partner and lover whose focus and level head don’t stop him from getting as heated as his girlfriend.
New recurring guest stars include the following:
- Cheryl Hines as Dot Karlson.
- Jessie Ennis as Jenny.
- Mae Martin as Grace St. James.
- Margaret Cho as Utada.
- Santiago Cabrera as Marco.
- Shohreh Aghdashloo as Brenda.
Behind the camera
The Flight Attendant was developed by showrunner Steve Yockey, who executive produces with his co-showrunner Natalie Chaidez. Greg Berlanti, Kaley Cuoco, Sarah Schechter, David Madden, Suzanne McCormack, and Silver Tree are executive producers. Jess Meyer is a co-executive producer. Bonnie Munoz is a producer.
The series is produced by Warner Bros. Television, Cuoco’s Yes, Norman Productions, and Berlanti Productions.
That’s everything we know about The Flight Attendant seasons one and two, now streaming on HBO Max. We’ll be sure to update you as soon as we learn more.