Well, my word! It has been a long time since we've had any solid updates on Sweet Magnolias Season 2, hasn't it? And, you can bet your best margarita recipe that fans have been waiting with bated breath to see what the new season might hold for Dana Sue, Maddie, Helen and all of their friends, family, and sorta foes. After a late May 2020 debut, the hit was renewed in July, but production has been slow going, probably for obvious reasons. But, wait! Now, Netflix's Sweet Magnolias Season 2 is finally gaining some momentum, with the arrival of new series regulars and a release window!
Get ready to celebrate a Sweet Magnolias success with your chips, dips, and margs, because according to Deadline, Season 2 of the romantic drama is currently in production and eyeing a 2022 premiere. With that news, comes more glad tidings, as three of the players from Season 1 who had smaller parts will now become regulars in the Sweet Magnolias cast. Brandon Quinn (Ronnie Sullivan), Dion Johnstone (Erik Whitley), and Jamie Lynn Spears (Noreen Fitzgibbons) have all signed on to show up around the small town of Serenity, South Carolina a lot more frequently.
Seeing as how it's been nearly a year since Sweet Magnolias debuted, you might not quite remember who these characters are and what kind of role they played in Season 1, but, let me assure you, all of them returning for larger parts in the new set of episodes could mean some very big things for the series.
Noreen is the mistress of Maddie's ex-husband, Bill. He cheated on Maddie with the much younger woman, who was a nurse at his medical practice, got her pregnant, left Maddie and became engaged to Noreen. But, Bill is basically trash, and while it took Noreen some time to see it, she did finally notice how he treated her and one of his sons with Maddie, Kyle (whom Noreen had befriended), and decided to leave Serenity and Bill behind before the season's end. It never felt like that was going to be a permanent solution to Noreen's storyline, so it will be good to see her return. Especially with Kyle getting into more than a bit of trouble in the finale.
Now, if you don't remember Erik, well, I think you may not have paid full attention to Sweet Magnolias Season 1, because he made quite an impression during his, relatively few, times on screen. This series is nothing without its romantic complications, and Erik (who's the sous chef at Dana Sue's restaurant), spent all season harboring a mean crush on Helen. As you might recall, though, Helen quickly fell back in with her on-again, off-again ex-boyfriend of over 20 years, Ryan, when he rolled back into town suddenly, and even though Helen liked Erik, she only saw him as a friend. By the finale, though, Helen and Ryan had broken each other's hearts all over again, and she and Erik were growing closer than ever.
As for Ronnie, while I'm glad he'll be around a lot more in Sweet Magnolias Season 2, I do worry about what this means for Dana Sue and farmer Jeremy. Ronnie is Dana Sue's estranged husband (and father to her daughter, Annie), who returned unexpectedly in the Season 1 finale. It was abundantly clear that Ronnie and Dana Sue still had the hot hots for one another (though it seems he cheated on her), and with her now needing financial help with her restaurant, and him being willing to pitch in, it makes sense that he'd stick around. But! After a season filled with disappointments, Dana Sue had just found potential romance with Jeremy, so we can probably bet that Ronnie's return will muck that up, at least for a time.
Basically, we are guaranteed more dramatic romantic entanglements and strained family dynamics just with these three characters coming back full time for Sweet Magnolias Season 2, so the wait might be long, but it will be worth it! If you need more to watch in the coming weeks, check out our guide to 2021 summer TV!
