The Artful Dodger returns: Disney orders second season of Aussie hit
By Karl Quinn
Disney has commissioned a second season of colonial-era dramedy The Artful Dodger, with eight episodes to be shot in Sydney in 2025.
The series, created by former lawyer James McNamara and inspired by Charles Dickens’ 1838 novel Oliver Twist, has been a global success for Disney+ and is the platform’s first Australian-made drama to gain a second season.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Maia Mitchell in season 1 of The Artful Dodger.Credit: Disney+
“There’s been an internet narrative that says it was a limited series,” says McNamara. “I don’t know where that came from, but in my mind it was always written to be a returning story, and that was certainly my hope. And I’m just profoundly grateful to Disney that they’ve given us that opportunity to play again in this world.”
It stars English actors Thomas Brodie-Sangster as pickpocket-surgeon Jack Dawkins (aka The Artful Dodger) and David Thewlis as his mentor-cum-tormentor Fagin. Plus, Australian actress Maia Mitchell plays Belle, a woman determined to pursue a life of science despite the disapproval of her father, the colonial governor. The show was announced in May 2022 as part of Disney’s first slate of Australian productions for its streaming service.
In a line-up of nine shows, it was one of just three scripted series announced, alongside The Clearing, which aired in June 2023, and The Last Days of the Space Age, which dropped on Disney+ last month.
That slate was announced in the context of the anticipated imposition of local content quotas on the streaming services, which unlike their free-to-air counterparts and Foxtel, are not required to commission or broadcast any Australian content.
Despite promising in January 2023 that quotas would become law by July 1, 2024, arts minister Tony Burke has not yet introduced the enabling legislation.
The only other local program to receive a second-season commission from Disney since that initial slate was announced is the observational documentary Shipwreck Hunters Australia, which was renewed in July.
Though Disney has not revealed any streaming figures for The Artful Dodger, it says it is its most successful Australian original to date, “with particular relevance in Australia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the US”.
“We’re thrilled to give our global audiences what they’ve been asking for,” says Disney Australia chief Kylie Watson-Wheeler, claiming the return “is a testament to the series’ high calibre of production and its local and international audience success”.
According to McNamara, the show has developed a “really passionate fan base” all around the world. “There’s a petition that’s garnered 25,000 signatures for a season 2. We’ve seen cosplay, costume-theme birthday parties. One of my younger colleagues pointed me to 80 million views of Dodger and Belle edits on Tiktok, there’s fan fiction.”
He doesn’t read it, he adds. “I can’t read it, for intellectual property reasons. But my younger colleagues tell me there’s a lot.
“I just feel so honoured and grateful that audiences have connected so strongly with these characters,” McNamara adds. “The warmth of the audience response has been tremendously humbling.”
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