The Last O.G. marked Tracy Morgan’s return to TV after four long years. While the series has been renewed by TBS, viewers are anxiously awaiting the series’ return. Here’s what we know about Season 2 of the TBS comedy.
TBS renewed Tracy Morgan’s hit comedy show The Last O.G. for Season 2 back in April, only a few weeks into the series’ first season run. The good news came on April 23, 2018, alongside news of the renewal of TBS’ breakout comedy-thriller series Search Party, which was renewed for Season 3.
The early confirmation of The Last O.G. for Season 2 meant that fans could continue enjoying the rest of the first season of the series with the assurance that Morgan would be returning to his starring role as the ex-con Tray Barker after Season 1, which wrapped up on June 5.
THANK YOU ? everyone for making @TheLastOGtbs’s first season such a great one. I love you all. Watch our season finale tonight. We will be back soon with a second season!! pic.twitter.com/FcLhmIFaZy
— Tracy Morgan (@TracyMorgan) June 5, 2018
“We couldn’t be prouder of these two comedies (The Last O.G. and Search Party) and that they’ve been recognized by critics and audiences alike for their uniquely hilarious points of view in a very crowded field,” said TBS executive Brett Weitz. “We truly believe The Last O.G. and Search Party are two of the best shows on television.”
Morgan was clearly overjoyed about the news.
“I would like to thank God, my family, the fans and TBS and everyone that has been given a second chance. We love you!” he said.
BOUT TO HIT EM W THESE ANNOUNCEMENT BARS RIGHT HERE REAL QUICK #TheLastOG #Season2 pic.twitter.com/a6xzG49gJd
— The Last O.G. on TBS (@TheLastOGtbs) April 23, 2018
The series premiered on TBS on April 3, 2018, after a sneak peek aired on March 31, 2018. The official premiere on April 3 scored a 0.68 rating in the 18-49 demographic and was viewed by an estimated 1.75 million in the U.S. It ranked as TBS’ most-viewed comedy premiere since 2015.
The April 10 episode of the series scored a 0.58 rating in the 18-46 demographic, drawing an audience of 1.516 million. The April 10 episode was surpassed in live plus three day Nielsen numbers only by AMC’s The Walking Dead and Fear The Wailing during that week.
Season 1 averaged a 0.49 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 1.211 viewers, reaching a multiplatform audience of nearly 25 million. The series, produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out director), was the channel’s top primetime scripted show in 2018, among other TBS shows, such as American Dad!, The Detour, Wrecked, Angie Tribeca, Final Space and Search Party.
The Last O.G. was also positively received by TV critics.
The success of the first season of The Last O.G. was significant, especially because it marked the end of Morgan’s four-year absence from TV.
Tracy Morgan suffered a ghastly car accident in 2014 that left him in a coma for nearly two weeks. The series struck a chord with the audience in the context of Morgan’s recent near-death experience, and besides Tracy’s quirky humor, it tells a story that is relatable from multiple perspectives: A man struggling to make a fresh start.
While fans eagerly await the official premiere date for the return of Tracy Morgan as Tray Barker, here is everything that you need to know about The Last O.G. Season 2.
The Last O.G. Season 2 release date
TBS has not released an official premiere date for The Last O.G. Season 2, but based on the fact that Season 1 premiered in March/April 2018 and wrapped up in June 2018, fans are speculating that Season 2 will probably also premiere in March/April 2019. But TBS has not confirmed the speculation.
The Last O.G.: Details
The Last O.G. was co-created and co-written by the Oscar winner Jordan Peele and John Carcieri. The comedy series stars Tracy Morgan, who also executive produces the show with Jordan Peele for Monkeypaw Productions. Other executive producers are Eric and Kim Tannenbaum, Saladin Patterson and Joel Zadak for Principato Young Entertainment.
In 2014, Morgan was involved in a crash while riding in his limo with his friend, the comedy writer James McNair. McNair died after a Wal-Mart tractor rear-ended Morgan’s limo. Morgan survived the crash but he was put in a coma for two weeks. He suffered severe injuries, including a broken leg, ribs and traumatic brain injury.
Recovery was a slow and painful process, requiring months of physical and cognitive therapy, according to Vanity Fair.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was later found to have been driving while suffering from exhaustion due to sleep deprivation. Rolling Stone reported that the driver eventually pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide and aggravated assault.
The Last O.G. is Morgan’s first major project since his recovery from the nearly fatal accident. He told Rolling Stone that the idea for the show came to him about eight years ago and that he had been thinking and talking about it with his wife since then.
The comedy series follows Tray Barker (Tracy Morgan), an ex-con who returns from prison after 15 years to his native Brooklyn to find that his newly gentrified neighborhood has changed so much that he barely recognizes it.
He also finds that his old sweetheart Shay (Tiffany Haddish) has married a white guy Josh (Ryan Gaul) who is raising his twins, Amira (Taylor Christian Mosby) and Shazad (Dante Hoagland), as his own kids. Tray was actually never aware that he had twins with Shay until he returned from prison.
Tray is challenged to adapt to the shocking transformation of the world he left behind when he went to prison. He is also challenged to learn to be a better person and father to his kids.
The series has received generally favorable critical reviews, with an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 32 critical reviews. On Metacritic, it received a “generally favorable” approval score of 65 based on 18 critical reviews.
The evidence from Twitter is that fans love the show.
Last OG IS INCREDIBLE…my god such a great show…the writing is way deeper than comedy!
— Sean Hackman (@SeanHackman3) May 30, 2018
YOOO The Last OG is hilarious ????
— Bill Bufalino (@Carhartt_Crum) May 30, 2018
The pilot for The Last O.G. was directed by the former SNL writer Jorma Taccone. FX Productions was involved in the production of the pilot but it was announced on October 17, 2016, that the series was moving from FX to TBS, which made an order for a ten-episode first season.
The title of the series, The Last O.G., was first announced on May 17, 2017. The premiere date for the series was first announced as October 24, 2017, but it was delayed until April 3, 2018, after the departure of the series co-creator John Carcieri. Carcieri, who left after the completion of the production of Season 1, was replaced by Saladin K. Patterson.
During a recent appearance on The View, Morgan suggested to The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg that she could play his mother in Season 2. But there is no word yet that Goldberg is taking Morgan up on his offer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtErXQtGXyA
The Last O.G. Season 2: Production
The Last O.G. Season 2 went into production last summer and Morgan had wrapped up filming by early September when he went a 21-city stand-up tour.
The Daily Mail reported on August 16, 2018, that Morgan, Haddish, and the rapper Clifford Smith, aka Method Man, were spotted filming scenes for Season 2 of The Last O.G. around New York City. Photos showed Method Man and Morgan dressed in orange prison-style jumpsuits during filming that took place in the first two weeks of August.
The filming involved a prison-themed bright orange food truck, The Last Meal on Wheels. The brightly painted truck had images of burgers in chains and handcuffs.
Earlier in July, Entertainment Weekly reported that Morgan would guest star in two episodes of Season 30 of The Simpsons. He voiced himself as an animated character in The Simpsons Season 30 episode titled My Way or the Highway to Heaven. He also voiced a truck driver in the episode Baby You Can’t Drive My Car.
“Once you’re on The Simpsons, that’s history,” Morgan enthused.
DJ Premier announce on his Instagram on July 30, 2018, that Morgan had picked him to score The Last O.G. Season 2.
“I’m scoring the 2nd season of The Last O.G. Thanks to @realtracymorgan reaching out to me to directly handle the music,” DJ Premier announced on his Instagram.
The Last O.G. Season 2 trailer
TBS has not released a trailer for The Last O.G. Season 2. We will update fans as soon as the network drops the official trailer for the upcoming season. Meanwhile, enjoy the trailer for Season 1, released on February 16, 2018.
The Last O.G. Season 2 cast
The main cast of Season 1 expected to return for The Last O.G. Season 2 includes Tracy Morgan as the main character Tray Barker, Tiffany Haddish as Shannon “Shay,” Ryan Gaul as Josh, and Cedric the Entertainer as Minard Mullins.
Others include Allen Maldonado as Bobby, Taylor Christian Mosby and Dante Hoagland as the twins Amira and Shazad.
Rapper and actor Clifford Smith, aka Method Man, is also expected to appear in The Last O.G. Season 2. Method Man was photographed last August filming scenes for The Last O.G. Season 2 with Morgan and Haddish in New York City, but Method Man’s exact role in the upcoming season renewal of The Last O.G. is not yet known.
The Last O.G. Season 2 plot
Morgan has emphasized that The Last O.G. is essentially a story about “second chances,” which is what Morgan received after escaping with his life in the crash that claimed the life of his friend.
“That’s all me,” he said. “It’s my life. This is my idea that I’ve had for eight years.”
Although the producers have been tight-lipped about the details of the plot and storyline of The Last O.G. Season 2, fans can expect that it will continue where Season 1 left off on the story about a man trying to start his life afresh.
Like his character, Tray, Morgan is a native of New York. He was born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bronx. Morgan told Vanity Fair that The Last O.G. is based on events that happened in his life, but unlike his screen character, he’s never been to prison.
The characters are also based on people he had known and lost over the years of his life.
Morgan also dealt crack during his youth. He took it up as a means of survival although he had a dedicated father. According to Morgan, Tray’s devotion to his kids while struggling to reintegrate was inspired by his father Jimmy.
Morgan called his father Jimmy the “First O.G.”
Morgan revealed in the interview with Vanity Fair that his father was a Vietnam Veteran who returned transformed by the experience of war. He was a heroin addict who eventually died of AIDS. But despite his issues, he was always dedicated to his kids until he died in 1987.
“His kids [were] his legacy,” Morgan said. “Me, my brothers, and my sister were his world. We were his world.”
While we don’t expect Tray to end up like Jimmy, he will likely mirror Jimmy’s dedication to Morgan and his siblings in the upcoming episodes of the series.