Amazon's new thriller, The Widow, centers around one question: is Georgia Wells' husband still alive? Kate Beckinsale stars as the supposed widower, who travels to Africa after her husband's plane crashes in the Congolese jungle. She's told he's dead, but is convinced otherwise, and spends the series searching for answers about what happened — and where he is. But whether or not that mystery is resolved, The Widow could still return for Season 2. Clearly, there's a bigger conspiracy going on here worth digging into, and there's also plenty of supporting characters whose stories could be further explored.
One of these characters is Ariel (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson), a blind man who was on the same flight as Georgia's husband and survived, and is now looking into a clinical trial that could help to restore his sight. Another character a potential Season 2 could focus on is Adidja (Shalom Nyandiko), a young girl serving as a child soldier in the militia. The connections between her, Ariel, and Georgia aren't immediately clear, but surely, the ties between their three seemingly disparate storylines will come into focus by the end of the series. Whether or not that happens in Season 1, however, could reveal what the long-term plan is for The Widow.
The fact that the show starts with a mystery but is rounded out with two equally captivating (but mostly separate) narratives suggests that the writers may have a bigger picture in mind — just think of the way Lost merged many different stories into one. It took a while to get to the end goal, but the seeds were planted early on. The Widow could be following a similar strategy, though obviously, amid a very different universe (then again, Georgia's husband could be alive in some alternate dimension. Anything is possible!).
That being said, neither Amazon or ITV, which is joint producing The Widow, have announced that the series will return for a second season. Amid the current TV landscape, it can be pretty impossible to gauge if a show is meant to be a one and done project, or something more ongoing. Terms like limited series, mini-series, anthology series, or "special event" are usually a good indication (barring cases like Big Little Lies and 13 Reasons Why), and considering none of those things have been used in promotional materials for The Widow, it's safe to assume the show's team is angling for more episodes, and have taken that into consideration when crafting the story.
So, we've established that The Widow has the right elements in place to continue, but the question is, will Amazon and ITV take the bait? Even if the writers have a long game mapped out, the networks may decide there's not enough interest to renew the show. For now, The Widow's fate is at the hands of the streaming powers that be. You'll just have to marathon Season 1 and hope for the best. Hopefully, news will come sooner rather than latter no matter what the outcome.
