HBO is bringing back Youth, Sharon Horgan’s comedy about starting over at 50, for a second season. The renewal came quickly. HBO says the show is among its five strongest comedy launches worldwide, and the first season reportedly opened with a 97% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. HBO doesn’t usually publish its own internal rankings, so that claim should be read as a confident one, not an independently verified one. All the same, a show getting this much support this early is a good sign.
Horgan created, writes and stars in the series as Alex, a recently divorced woman figuring out how to date again while caring for her ageing parents and an adult son who hasn’t quite moved on with his life. Rupert Friend plays Patrick, alongside Sharlene Whyte as Sam, Aran Murphy as Ruari and Robbie Gee as Frank. The premise sits squarely in Horgan’s territory. Catastrophe, the series she co-created and starred in with Rob Delaney, made messy relationships both funny and painful. Her darker Bad Sisters showed she could build tension around family dysfunction just as easily. Youth seems to combine the two: an awkward comedy of embarrassment that also takes the pressures of being caught between generations seriously.
That pressure is a big part of why the show connects. Stories about middle age on screen tend to be either a midlife crisis or a comfortable second act. Being sandwiched between ageing parents and grown children who still depend on you is a reality for many viewers, but television rarely portrays it with this much humour or honesty. This is also Horgan’s return to HBO, which earlier aired Divorce, the Sarah Jessica Parker series she created.
The production team behind the scenes is Merman, Horgan’s own company, which has had a remarkable run with Bad Sisters, Amandaland and Vladimir. Dawn Shadforth directs and serves as executive producer, joined by Faye Dorn and Jim Kleverweis. HBO’s comedy chief has indicated that the core ensemble will return, though no individual cast member has been formally confirmed for the new season.
What’s still missing is any idea of timing. HBO hasn’t announced a production start, an episode count or a release window, and Horgan juggles several projects at once. Fans may face a lengthy wait.
For now, all eight episodes of the first season are streaming exclusively on OSN+ across the region, giving newcomers plenty of time to catch up. The real question is where Alex’s story goes next. A second season usually has to decide whether to keep the chaos going or let its lead finally win.