Apple TV is heading back to Florida’s stranger corners this December, with Bad Monkey season two officially set to premiere on December 2, 2026. Vince Vaughn returns as Andrew Yancy for another 10 episodes, although viewers shouldn’t expect a straightforward continuation of the Carl Hiaasen adaptation that launched the series.
The second season will instead tell an original story developed for television, moving beyond the plot of Hiaasen’s bestselling novel while retaining its characters and Florida setting. Apple TV will release the premiere on December 2, followed by a new episode every Wednesday until the season finale on February 3, 2027.
Vaughn is back in the lead role and continues as an executive producer, with Natalie Martinez, Charlotte Lawrence and John Ortiz also returning. The cast is expanding considerably this time around. John Malkovich, Yvonne Strahovski and Zavior Phillips join the series, while guest appearances will include Nate Jackson, Sofia Boutella, Brent Morin, Joey Avery, Dax Shepard, Sam Jaeger, Margarita Levieva, Peter Billingsley and June Diane Raphael.
Season two finds Yancy once again trying to recover his detective badge, this time after witnessing the murder of a prominent Florida fixer. He becomes involved in the investigation alongside a state attorney and forensic accountant, only for the case to pull him into a conflict between competing criminal organisations.
That gives creator and showrunner Bill Lawrence plenty of room to preserve the show’s mixture of crime, comedy and eccentric Florida characters without being tied to another Hiaasen storyline. Among the people entering Yancy’s orbit are a mob boss and his volatile son, as well as a young woman who needs his protection.
The new episodes will also continue some unfinished business from the first season. Yancy remains connected to Dr. Rosa Campesino, played by Martinez, with their unresolved relationship complicated further when Rosa begins investigating a mysterious rash. Yancy will also have to deal with his aging father and an animal relocation specialist whose operation poses an environmental threat.
Moving Bad Monkey beyond its source novel is arguably the more interesting part of Apple TV’s announcement. The first season had Hiaasen’s existing plot and distinctive Florida crime fiction as its foundation. Season two now has to demonstrate whether those qualities can survive when Lawrence and the writing team are building a new case rather than adapting one from the page.
Warner Bros. Television produces the series, with Lawrence serving as showrunner through Doozer Productions. Vaughn, Jeff Ingold, Matt Tarses, Liza Katzer, Adam Sztykiel, Chris Downey and Hiaasen are among the executive producers.
For Apple TV, Bad Monkey’s return also adds another established comedy to its late-2026 schedule. For the series itself, however, the bigger test will be whether Andrew Yancy can become a character capable of sustaining multiple television stories independently of the novel that introduced him.
