Could We See a Second Season of 'Vienna Blood'? Here's What We Know

The period mystery series Vienna Blood recently wrapped up its first season on Masterpiece, but the fate of the show remains uncertain.

The series stars Matthew Beard and as a doctor and a detective inspector who solve crimes in 1900s Vienna. Beard stars as Max Liebermann, a 20-something middle-class British-Jew who moved to Austria in his teens and studied under the famous Sigmund Freud. He finds himself working with Maurer's much more traditional Detective Oskar Rheinhardt, and the two forms a Holmes and Watson-esque partnership to solve cases using a combination of good old fashioned police work and some of Liebermann's more mordern forsenic and investigative techniques. 

The six-episode first season was based on Frank Tallis' series of novels entitled The Lieberman Papers. (And you can read recaps of each episode here on the site if you missed out.) But it only adapted elements from three of the stories, leaving plenty of material to work with should the series return for a second run. The thing is, we just don't know if it'll get one. 

Vienna Blood wasn't initially described as a limited series, so the door has always been open for the show too continue. In the initial press release promoting their acquisition of the series, the BBC touts the show as a "major new crime series", which certainly indicates that they likely viewed it as at least a minor franchise of some sort. (Or, to put it another way: Three feature length episodes - which is how this series aired on the BBC isn't exactly what I'd call "major". No offense, guys.) 

And in more good news: The series hasn't been canceled. True, it hasn't been renewed yet, either. But no one - neither BBC Two, the network that broadcasts the series in the U.K., nor PBS's Masterpiece, which airs it in the states - has weighed in on its future. Unlike, say, our poor late, lamented Sanditon, which both ITV and Masterpiece have basically already come out and said won't be getting a second season. 

But, on the flipside, it's not like anyone is out here telling us that Season 2 is coming, either. 

Of course, there are many elements that go into making a TV show, and even more so when you consider that Vienna Blood is an international production with a lot of moving pieces. (And that's before you consider things like cast schedules, and what not.) It's possible - probably even likely - that the reason we have heard so little news is that they're simply not quite sure when we might see one. And, unlike U.S. television, this isn't actually even that strange in the U.K.  Even popular, well-known shows often go for quite awhile between seasons, and even shows we thought had wrapped up can return a few years down the line with something new. (Looking at you, Gavin and Stacey.)

Even popular period drama Victoria is still sitting in a similar sort of production limbo, where it isn't yet greenlit for a fourth season, even if it seems as though everyone involved with the production seems to think Season 4 will happen at some point. 

So, and I realize this isn't a lot, don't give up hope Vienna Blood fans. There's every reason to believe we'll see Max, Oskar and more of their bizarre Mindhunter-ish crime-solving team again. It just might take some time.