2017’s period drama “Taboo” was truly a passion project of “Mad Max: Fury Road” star Tom Hardy. He co-created and co-wrote the series with Steven Knight (the father of “Peaky Blinders”) and his own dad, Chips Hardy. But despite the generally positive reviews and good reception from viewers — and the fact that it was officially renewed by BBC One and FX for a follow-up right after its freshman season — “Taboo’s” second season is still nowhere to be found more than nine years later.
Although both Hardy and Knight said in several interviews over the years that they want to continue the show, nothing has really come of those statements. I’m unsure whether 2026 will be the year when the morose adventurer and businessman James Delaney returns, but Knight did talk about the series briefly in a recent interview with Radio Times, which could give some hope to the fans. He said, “Well, Tom and I have talked about it, and I think we know what we would do. It’s just finding the space. But I’d love to, I get asked about it — especially in the States, actually — I get asked about it a lot.”
In their defense, it’s quite understandable why “Taboo” has been sidelined for a while now. Knight’s career pretty much blew up since “Peaky Blinders” became massive, and he’s been extremely busy writing other shows like “See,” “Rogue Heroes,” and two 2025 sensations, Hulu’s “A Thousand Blows” and Netflix’s “House of Guinness.” Meanwhile, Hardy shot “Dunkirk,” was immersed in Marvel’s “Venom” trilogy that took six years to make (and kind of wasted Hardy’s talent), and returned to TV in the lead role of “MobLand” on Paramount+ in 2025 (which you should put on your watchlist if you love gritty mob dramas). With schedules like that, it’s not exactly easy to find time for a rather low-key and underloved series that the two started nine years ago. But hope dies last, as they say.
The filthy, dark, and obscure world of Taboo
Premiering in early 2017 on BBC One in the U.K. (and on FX in the U.S., which has at least 11 excellent shows to stream via Hulu), “Taboo” followed James Delaney, a hostile and cryptic businessman, returning to London after a 12-year trip in Africa to attend his father’s funeral and protect an inherited piece of land in British Columbia from Sir Stuart Strange (Jonathan Pryce), the chairman of the East India Company. The more intriguing plot points, however, are the ones that hint at Delaney’s time away from home through visions and flashbacks, as well as potential incest with his half-sister Zilpha (Oona Chaplin), and a vague connection to the supernatural. Now, this is 19th-century England, mind you, so violence and Gothicism are very much a part of the bill, and “Taboo” certainly leans into them hard to deliver a rather murky, trippy, and convoluted story throughout its eight episodes.
Personally, I found the show excruciatingly slow and too bland at times back then, which made me bail on it after four episodes. But clearly, I was in the minority, since “Taboo” developed a pretty large fanbase who found a lot to love in the series that I just couldn’t (I’m kind of inclined to give it another try now). The show also scored two Emmy nominations in 2017 and received mostly positive reviews from critics (currently standing at a 76% rating on Rotten Tomatoes). And since the season finale ended on a cliffhanger, apparently, everything is pretty much set up for a follow-up (although addressing the time that has passed might be inevitable), if and when the two Hardys and Steven Knight can finally get to it.
