We'd Be on Board With 13 Reasons Why Season 2 If It's About This

Netflix has us totally conflicted about a second season of 13 Reasons Why, which they are apparently going for (though it's not totally confirmed yet). On the one hand, the story is so much better as a one-off, but on the other hand, I wouldn't hate being reunited with the suddenly famous cast. The biggest challenge is making a second season work. What will it be about? We already have a few ideas for where the show can go in another installment, but I actually have one idea that I think would work best without sacrificing the integrity of the original iteration. And it's this: season two should be about Alex's struggle.

To recap: Alex is one of Hannah's reasons for killing herself. By the end of season one, after all the grief of being part of her death, the loss of Jessica as his girlfriend, and the obvious depression expressed throughout the time we know him, Alex attempts to take his own life. There's a major irony in the fact that Hannah explicitly tells her tormenters that they missed all the signs — and then the same community, and we as the audience, miss all the signs about Alex.

Thus: season two could go back through the exact same time frame we've already seen, but through a totally different perspective: Alex's. We'd learn more about his home life and how having a strict cop for a father has influenced him. We'd find out where his self-esteem had to be to leave his integrity behind and write that list, then start hanging out with the kind of guys he's not. It would be our chance to see another view of the characters we already knew, but in a fresh way. By the way, this is one of the only scenarios that would make sense with the news that Hannah would still be in season two.

The series was a more fleshed-out version of the book, with an opportunity to develop the characters more, so this direction would just be building on that same theme. Of course, the first season leaves Alex's fate open-ended, so this means Alex would survive, which star Miles Heizer told The Hollywood Reporter he thinks is what happens. Heizer himself gives another reason Alex's story deserves a second look, saying, "That's another subject that's very rarely shown onscreen and is probably a lot more common than people think it is. People attempting to take their lives and it not happening, I'm sure that will bring a crazy set of issues. It would be interesting to go into that." Alex surviving would let the show teach a different, equally valid lesson.