FX has not yet officially confirmed that Trust Season 2 is happening, but fans are eagerly awaiting word from the network. Here’s everything we know so far about the potential new season.
Trust is an FX anthology drama TV series that focuses on the Getty family dynasty. The series premiered on FX on Sunday, March 25, 2018, after Ridley Scott’s film All the Money in the World — which also focused on John Paul Getty III’s abduction ordeal — was released in December 2017.
The ten-episode Trust Season 1, created by Simon Beaufoy and directed by Danny Boyle, was based on one of the most publicized and tragic events in the history of the family — the abduction of John Paul Getty III, the grandson of the Getty family patriarch, John Paul Getty Sr., and heir to the Getty billions.
John Paul Getty III was kidnapped in Rome in 1973 at a time that his grandfather, John Paul Getty I, was known worldwide as one of the wealthiest men alive.
While fans not-so-patiently await word from FX confirming Trust for Season 2, we bring you answers to every question you have about the highly-anticipated season renewal. Will Trust Season 2 happen? When is the likely release date? Who will be in Trust Season 2? When will the trailer be out? What can fans expect of the upcoming season?
Will Trust Season 2 happen?
Although FX has not officially confirmed that it is picking up Trust for Season 2, series creator Beaufoy previously confirmed that he started the Trust project with multiple follow-up seasons in mind. He also revealed that he expected FX to renew Trust for Season 2, saying that “it’s all ongoing” and that FX was “very happy” about Trust Season 1.
Fans and TV critics are also expecting that FX will renew Trust for Season 2, although ratings were not that impressive.
Trust Season 1 was one of the lowest-rated shows on FX, despite being focused on one of the wealthiest families in American history whose lives have captured public imagination.
Trust averaged a 0.15 rating in the 18-49 demographic, and drew only about 587,000 viewers. Trust’s numbers on FX surpassed only Better Things (0.15 rating and 459,000 viewers) and Baskets (0.14 rating and 407,000 viewers).
The fact that both Better Things and Baskets have been renewed for Season 2 and Season 3 respectively raises hopes that FX will also renew Trust.
Trust Season 2 release date
FX has not officially announced a release date for Trust Season 2, but after Beaufoy said that Trust Season 2 is “ongoing”, it is widely assumed that FX will soon make an official statement confirming the renewal of the show for another season.
Fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the announcement will come by the spring of 2019 and that Trust Season 2 will premiere by the summer or fall of 2019.
Trust Season 2: Trailer to come
A trailer for Trust Season 2 hasn’t come out yet. If FX confirms Trust for Season 2, we will update this article as soon as the network drops an official trailer.
Meanwhile, enjoy the Trust Season 1 trailer, preview and teaser below.
Trust overview
FX’s Trust anthology drama series is created by Simon Beaufoy. Beaufoy co-wrote Trust with Danny Boyle who directed the first three episodes of the 10-episode first season of the series. The duo of Beaufoy and Boyle co-executive produced Trust Season 1 with Christian Colson.
Trust Season 1 recounts the 1973 abduction in Rome, Italy, of John Paul Getty III, the then-16-year-old heir to the Getty billions.
Beaufoy, Boyle, and Colson had previously worked together on a number of very successful projects, including Slumdog Millionaire (2008). The trio each won an Oscar for their roles in Slumdog Millionaire: Colson (Best Motion Picture of the Year), Boyle (Best Achievement in Directing) and Beaufoy (Best Writing).
Beaufoy and Boyle also worked together to write the screenplay and produce 127 Hours (2010). Beaufoy is known for his role in writing the screenplay of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). He also directed 28 Days Later (2002) and Trainspotting (1996).
Trust Season 1 starred Donald Sutherland, Harris Dickinson, Michael Esper and Hillary Swank.
Canadian actor Sutherland, 82, played the role of John Paul Getty Sr. in the FX anthology after fellow Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, 88, portrayed the same character in Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World, released in December 2017.
Plummer replaced Kevin Spacey in the role of John Paul Getty Sr. after the movie had been shot. Film director Ridley Scott pulled Spacey from his role on account of sexual harassment allegations against him.
Plummer became the oldest Academy Award nominee when he was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role at age 88. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
However, critics pilloried Ridley Scott’s films for allegedly failing to deliver a detailed portrayal of the 1973 kidnap incident beyond facts already well-known to the public.
The difference between the plot and storyline of Trust Season 1 and Scott’s film is that Trust suggests that John Paul Getty III arranged his own kidnap to wring money from the hands of his miserly grandfather.
John Paul Getty III, heir to the Getty billions, was kidnapped in Rome by members of the Italian mafia who demanded a $17 million ransom. However, his grandfather, the billionaire oil tycoon John Paul Getty Sr., responded to the ransom demand, saying he wouldn’t pay “one solitary cent.”
Although it is widely believed that Getty Jr. planned his abduction with his kidnappers, things went out of control after his grandfather refused to pay up immediately and instead began haggling with the kidnappers.
Getty’s decision to haggle with the kidnappers over his grandson’s life has been the subject of ethical debate since the details became known, with many suggesting that the billionaire tycoon’s response justifies his reputation as a craven miser missing all normal human feelings and emotions.
But others, including Sutherland, have defended Getty Sr., arguing that his action was the most logical in the circumstances. He had to appear uncaring to avoid endangering other members of the family who could also end up being kidnapped by copy-cat kidnappers.
“He wasn’t cruel. He was pragmatic and precise,” Sutherland argued during a panel in NYC in March. “It was a practical decision.”
“J. Paul Getty did nothing wrong,” Beaufoy also said. “There were no easy villains here. Everybody was trapped in their own psychological difficulties.”
Regardless, the trials and tribulations of the Getty family have often been used to illustrate the saying that “money can’t buy happiness”.
“The great mystery is what is lacking in them,” Beaufoy mused at the 2018 TCA winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif. “They try to fill the big, huge hole in each of their souls with money or sex or drugs. There is passed down this lack of empathy — this complete lack of understanding of human emotion.”
Trust Season 2 cast
Cast announcements for Trust Season 2 are not expected until after FX confirms the show for another season. Beaufoy has revealed that Trust Season 2 would focus on Getty’s earlier years (the 1930s) when he was building his massive business empire. Thus, if Trust Season 2 happens, fans can expect a new cast because the new season will focus on a new story arc.
So it is likely that Trust Season 2 will cast a new star in the role of the younger Getty Sr.
However, some members of the main cast of Trust Season 1 could return. For instance, if Getty Sr.’s earlier years is explored in the form of flashbacks then Donald Sutherland could reprise his role as Getty Sr. in Trust Season 2.
Trust Season 1 starred Donald Sutherland, 82, as the patriarch John Paul Getty Sr., Harris Dickinson as the kidnapped John Paul Getty III, Michael Esper as Getty III’s father J. Paul Getty Jr., and Hilary Swank as Getty III’s mother Gail. Brendan Fraser played James Fletcher Chace, the Getty family’s private investigator.
Brendan Fraser is known for his role as Billy Anderson in Texas Rising (TV Mini-Series 2015) and as Richard O’Connell in The Mummy (1999). He also appeared as John Gunther in the Showtime drama series The Affair (TV series 2014- ).
Hillary Swank is best known for her role as Maggie Fitzgerald in Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Harris Dickinson appeared as Frankie in Beach Rats (2017).
Trust Season 2 plot
Trust follows the “trials and triumphs” of one of America’s wealthiest but “unhappiest” families, and was always meant to follow events in the family’s history in the last century over multiple seasons.
Trust Season 1 focused on one of the most publicized events in the family’s history: the 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III, a feckless, curly-haired, bell-bottom clad 16-year-old rich kid, experimenting with drugs and sex in the 70s hippy rock ‘n roll scene in Rome.
Getty III plots his own abduction to extract money from his grandfather. He and the kidnappers, members of the Italian mafia, had expected a huge ransom to be paid for his release.
They demand $17 million but Getty Sr. refused to pay up. The kidnappers were unprepared for the situation in which it appeared that no one cared about the young teenager’s life. Pressure increased on the kidnappers as negotiations with Getty Sr. dragged on. They turned against the teenager who ended up with an ear sliced off.
Getty Sr. was reportedly staying at Sutton Place, his Tudor manor house in Surrey, England, with several mistresses and a pet lion, at the time his grandson was abducted. Getty III’s father, John Paul Getty Jr., was in London, reportedly “lost in a drug-induced fog”.
Getty III’s mother Gail (Hillary Swank), found herself left to negotiate alone with the kidnappers and struggle to convince her former father-in-law to part with the ransom money.
“I have 14 other grandchildren,” Getty reportedly said, “and if I pay one penny now, then I’ll have 14 kidnapped grandchildren.”
Getty Sr. eventually beat down the ransom to $3 million. Several of the kidnappers, including high ranking members of the ‘Ndrangheta Mafia in Calabria, were later apprehended.
Although Trust Season 2 has not yet been officially announced, the series creators are already said to be working on it. Beaufoy has admitted that he started the project to create Trust with a plan for multiple seasons.
Beaufoy was optimistic that FX would renew Trust for Season 2 and shared that it will focus on Getty Sr.’s early years, specifically in the 1920s and 1930s, when he was building his vast business empire.
“The idea is to go back to the 1930s [after Season 1] to discover how John Paul Getty I became this extraordinary person with this huge hole in his soul,” Beaufoy said in an interview with Deadline.
It is also expected that future seasons of the anthology beyond Trust Season 2 — if FX approves them — will focus exclusively on the Getty family. There is no danger that the series will soon run out of stories to tell because there is clearly plenty of interesting material in the family’s history to sustain storytelling for multiple seasons.
Boyle told IndieWire that he, Beaufoy, and Colson, originally planned Trust as a five-season series.
“Originally, it was five and then it got crazy and we thought ‘no, we can’t do that’,” Boyle said. “And then it came down to three, which feels like a very strong way of doing it.”
“Season 2 goes back to the 1930s, that shows the making of a monster,” Beaufoy added. “How did John Paul Getty become like this, and what was his childhood like? What was his mother like?”
He then suggested that Trust Season 3 could look at Getty Sr.’s last days and the drama that surrounded his will. According to Beaufoy, Getty deliberately contrived the drama to “create chaos in the family”.
“It’s FX’s decision effectively,” Boyle concluded, “but it depends on how much people relish what they’re seeing. We would bring the same style, because you want the coherence of the style. And that kind of sense of humor in it, and that kind of risk-taking as well.”