Sometimes less can actually get you more. In a recent interview, Baz Luhrmann, the showrunner for the Netflix series The Get Down, revealed that the second part of its first season will consist of only five episodes while introducing animations to the show.
The first season was reported to originally consist of 13 episodes, but that number was later reduced by one episode, to 12. After releasing the first six episodes in August 2016 — breaking the Netflix paradigm of complete-season releases — Luhrmann says the decision to do five episodes — for a new season 1 total of 11 — for the second half was to ensure they were making episodes for the right reasons. “We were particularly concerned with making sure, with the musical numbers and density of each episode, that we weren’t finding ourselves “padding” in material for the sake of a making a number,” Luhrmann said.
The show may be returning with less episodes, but we still may get more from Books and the Get Down Crew. Luhrmann said the finale episode of the second part of season 1 will be 75 minutes, roughly 20 minutes longer than part one finale.
One of the newest additions to the fictional Bronx-set show are animations, which Luhrmann described as being fiscally and creatively helpful. The second part of The Get Down‘s inaugural season will have multiple episodes that feature animations. “There’s only so much that dialogue is going to be able to tell you about Dizzee and Thor, because they’re not very verbal,” Luhrmann said. “Whereas in the animation, going inside their own fantasy and understanding how they are living in their own artistic fantasy, it allows you to go with them.”
Luhrmann also said “the animation was a better way of doing it financially than if you tried to do those complicated things with CG or whatever.” That is very important to a TV show that reportedly costs more than $10 million per episode to produce.
Luhrmann says he has already started working on what is next for The Get Down, and “Sony and Netflix have been very driven about having a second season.” So, we may get an announcement regarding that later this year.
The Get Down returns to Netflix on April 7.
