'Get Millie Black' Deserves More than a Single Limited Series

After four riveting episodes of Get Millie Black, and with the finale arriving over the holiday, will we get a second season? Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Marlon James conceived the limited series, bringing to life a side of Jamaica rarely seen: the turbulent streets of Kingston and its distinct class struggles. Immersing the audience in the culture, James opted for characters to speak Jamaican patois with subtitles rather than forcing an Anglicized language perspective. There’s a refreshing focus on underrepresented voices, particularly in Jamaica’s queer community, with characters telling their own stories. Get Millie Black is James’ first foray into television, and if producers are savvy, this is only the start of his brilliant career on the small screen.

Our journey with police detective Millie-Jean Black (Tamara Lawrance), who’s shown herself to be fierce, passionate, and driven to recklessness, seems headed for an explosive showdown – one that the show has loudly hinted she may not survive. She’s off the rails, alone and without a concrete plan, but nothing will stop her from trying to save Romeo. She’s about to take on an unknown number of human traffickers, but she has no idea how many infiltrators they have in Scotland Yard (other than Holborn). Millie’s woefully unprepared; it’s a recipe for death. Was Janet telling us the truth about Millie dying? Is this a self-sacrifice? 

Millie’s deep-seated guilt over Hibiscus’ childhood with their mother fuels her bottomless hunger for redemption. Yet she pushes Hibiscus away while simultaneously seeking that lost child in every case she investigates.  

The chatter on the internet about a second season is practically null. In an interview on Jamaican television, Marlon James said there’s no Season 2 – but I would add the caveat of “yet.” Even if Millie dies, it doesn’t necessarily spell the end for the show: they could convert it into an anthology series like any of the numerous other HBO “limited series” (True Detective; Big Little Lies; The White Lotus). James could take a page from two British series recently awarded second seasons after initially made as close-ended stories, Sherwood and Time, where the setting is the constant and the character focus shifts to new people each season.

If Millie does die, what would a second season look like? They could pick up a second set of episodes with Curtis as the main character, explore more of his relationship with Daniel, and set him on a path to unravel Sanguis Meridian’s whole trafficking operation. I do not believe Millie will be able to take them down alone, mainly due to her temerious, emotionally charged decision-making — not to mention that she’s just one person. 

Curtis could avenge Millie’s death by finishing the case she couldn’t. It might work even better if Millie goes missing in the finale instead, and the second season has Curtis and Hibiscus joining forces to find her. 

Another option for Season 2 could be built around a new trafficking case, especially if Millie is triumphant. Busting these rings could become her legacy; she might even start a task force and root out corruption within the police. The series may be called Get Milie Black, but if she survives all those out to get her, it would only make sense that she’s allowed to, well, Get Back.

This show deserves a second season. James, who has closed out HBO’s 2024 run of originals with one of the year's most innovative, engaging, and well-written series of the year, deserves to be given a continuing platform on Channel 4 and HBO. These are stories we aren’t seeing, but they are told from BIPOC points of view. We need more of this. It is genuinely appointment television.

The season finale of Get Millie Black will air and stream on Monday, December 23, 2024, at  9 p.m. ET on HBO and Max. We will return with our recap and final thoughts next week.