When Does Clarice Season 2 Come Out? Is It Renewed?

What is Clarice about?

Clarice picks up Clarice Starling's story in 1993, six months after she walked out of that West Virginia basement with her most famous case closed. This is a show about a woman trying to build a career in the FBI while everyone wants to define her by her trauma, which sounds like it could matter, except the show itself never quite figures out what to do with that tension.

Rebecca Breeds brings intelligence and watchfulness to Starling, and there are moments when the writing lets her sit in genuine uncertainty instead of just barreling toward the next plot point. The procedural framework is functional: each week brings a new killer for the team to hunt, and the show has the kind of dark material that lets it feel like it's saying something about violence. But Clarice mistakes grimness for depth. It wants to explore how a young woman navigates institutional sexism and the shadow of the Lecter case, yet it gets distracted by garden-variety crime-of-the-week plotting that could belong to any network drama. The show is never quite sure if it wants to interrogate Starling's legend or just use it as a hook.

Critics were largely unimpressed, and audiences didn't follow. The show lasted one season of thirteen episodes before cancellation, which suggests it found neither the people interested in serialized Hannibal universe mythology nor those wanting a standard FBI procedural. Its position as a belated spinoff trapped it between two audiences. Those who cared about The Silence of the Lambs often prefer the film's ambiguities left alone, while viewers looking for crime drama had plenty of better options already on the air. Clarice wanted to be both serious study and entertainment, and ended up being neither with any real conviction.

Created by Jenny Lumet, Alex Kurtzman

Is Clarice renewed or cancelled?

Why was Clarice cancelled?

Clarice arrived on CBS in early 2021 as a spinoff of The Silence of the Lambs, positioned to follow FBI trainee Clarice Starling in the years after the events of the film. The show had some inherent appeal—a familiar character and a proven IP brand—but it failed to find an audience large enough to justify its costs. Network television was already in decline, and CBS's viewership skewed older, making a psychological crime thriller targeting a broader demographic a risky bet. The show aired its entire thirteen-episode first season and then quietly ended, with no second season ordered.

The ratings tell most of the story. The pilot drew viewers curious about the premise, but the audience dropped off considerably in subsequent weeks. By the time the finale aired in late June, the show was not delivering the numbers CBS needed to keep it in the schedule. A 6.6 rating on IMDb suggests the show was reasonably well-made and had its admirers, but critical appreciation and modest viewership did not add up to renewal. On broadcast television, where advertising dollars depend on consistent large audiences, a show has to perform immediately or face cancellation.

CBS's decision was straightforward economics. The network was not in a position to nurture a slow burn, and Clarice did not ignite. A character study about a young Clarice Starling investigating serial killers is, by definition, a niche appeal in the crowded 2021 television landscape. The show had one season to prove itself, and it did not.

Clarice Season 2 Release Date

Best & worst episodes

Clarice seasons

Clarice trailer

Where to watch Clarice

Amazon VideobuyApple TV StorebuyGoogle Play MoviesbuyFandango At Homebuy

Clarice latest news