We have some bad news about Black Doves season 2 to share, courtesy of Ben Whishaw, the star of the Netflix original series.
In an interview with Collider, Whishaw, who plays Sam, revealed that not only has production not started yet but it's "six or seven months" away from starting. In addition, Whishaw said that the scripts for Black Doves season 2 haven't even been finished yet.
Here's what Whishaw told Collider about Black Doves season 2:
"It hasn't been written, so I actually can say nothing. I know nothing about it. That's boring, isn't it? You're not interested in that, but it’s the truth. It's not written. It's six months, or seven months away, or something."
So, that is not very good news at all about the new season.
Black Doves season 2 update all but confirms 2026 premiere
Black Doves premiered on Netflix on Dec. 5, 2024, but before the series even premiered, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. There was hope that, because of the early renewal, the gap between seasons wouldn't be as long as we've seen for a lot of recent Netflix shows. Many fans, myself included, were holding out hope that Black Doves season 2 would be ready for Christmas 2025. This is a Christmas spy/assassin thriller after all. It just makes sense to drop the next season at Christmas!
Obviously, I knew it was going to be a long shot, though. I even included Black Doves on a list of Netflix shows that won't be back in 2025 because it seemed like there was too much work to be done. Even though Black Doves is only six episodes, it's a tough series to film. It's full of action sequences filmed on location around London, so that's a big challenge. Plus, just based on when the show came out and when it was renewed, there just wasn't that much time to get the second season ready to make the Christmas 2025 premiere. To be released during the holidays, shows need to wrap production by the end of July at the latest for all the post-production, promotion, and translation that takes place.
Thanks to Whishaw's update, it doesn't even look like Black Doves season 2 will be filming by July! So, we know that the Black Doves season 2 2025 release is basically out of the question unless something drastically changes.
Black Doves season 2 will likely premiere on Netflix sometime in 2026. It will obviously depend on a few things, including when production wraps and when Netflix wants to roll out the new season. If the second season is also Christmas-themed season, will Netflix hold the series until Q4 2026 to coincide with the holidays? We'll have to wait and see.
Ultimately, we know this is not the news that fans were hoping for about Black Doves season 2. We probably won't have many updates about Black Doves season 2 for a while. Around the time production is getting ready to begin, we should learn if there are new cast members in the mix for season 2. So, we'll do our best to keep you posted!
Obviously, it's good news that Black Doves season 2 is happening, but you'll probably have to watch the first season at Christmas next year to get into the holiday spirit.