'13 Reasons Why' Season 2 Will Feature A Different Kind Of Technology

Long before 13 Reasons Why was the most tweeted about show of 2017, it was a popular YA novel written by Jay Asher. When the book was adapted into a television series some obvious changes were weaved into the story, but what remained the same was the commitment to the storyline surrounding those cassette tapes. Now that 13 Reasons Why has been renewed by Netflix, Brian Yorkey, the series' showrunner, spoke with Entertainment Weekly and revealed a few details about next season. One detail in particular notes that 13 Reasons Why Season 2 won't focus on cassette tapes.

While the tapes played a huge part in telling the story of Hannah Baker, a high school student who commits suicide and leaves behind 13 tapes explaining her decision, Yorkey confirmed that the second season of the Netflix hit won’t feature more cassette tapes. Instead, we'll see a different type of technology made popular in the past. That's probably bad news for anyone watching the show who wasn’t born in 1999 or earlier.

“The tapes are still obviously on people’s minds, but there is a different sort of analog technology that plays a hugely important role in Season 2,” he explained. “So the cassette tapes aren’t at the center of it — those two boxes of tapes are still hanging around and matter to people — but there will be a new piece of technology for 13-year-olds to Google and try to understand what it was.”

The show has been praised for the way it realistically discusses suicide and depression among modern teenagers, but it’s still interesting to see that the writers and producers are dedicated to basing their story around the use of outdated technologies.

The cassettes aren't the only thing that the writers took a more traditional approach to. Jay Asher sat down with EW after the show made its streaming debut and discussed how bullying has changed since the book was published, and how it was reflected on-screen. "The traditional bullying is still there," he said. "But cyberbullying is something brand new to add on top of it that can actually be more devastating."

Since it was just announced on Sunday that the show is being renewed, not much else has been revealed about this new "analog technology" that will be featured. Guess we'll have to wait until 2018 to find out what's in store.

Check out the “Netflix” stream in the Bustle App for more Netflix news, plus recommendations on what to watch next.