TNT Orders 'The Alienist' Season 2, Titled 'The Angel Of Darkness'

TNT has given the green-light to The Alienist season 2. Like the Alienist follow-up book of the same name, the new season will be titled The Angel of Darkness. Alienist stars Daniel Brühl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning will all reprise their roles for the limited series.

Last month, TNT announced that their limited series The Alienist was the first installment of their "Suspense Collection", an anthology brand name that would continue on with Patty Jenkins' I Am the Night. But TNT isn't done with the world of The Alienist just yet. The network has ordered The Angel of Darkness, a follow-up to The Alienist, based on the novel by Caleb Carr.

"We could not be prouder of The Alienist's outstanding, award-worthy performance and all of the work the incredible actors and crew put in to bring that story and time period to life," said Sarah Aubrey, executive VP of original programming for TNT. "Our audience fell in love with these multi-dimensional, timeless characters and the journey of their struggles living in complicated times. With this new story in TNT's Suspense Collection, we will further immerse viewers into their world as they are confronted with a new enemy."

The three main characters of The Alienist – Daniel Brühl as Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, Luke Evans as John Moore, and Dakota Fanning as Sarah Howard – will all return for The Angel of Darkness. The Alienist found these individuals investigating a serial killer in late 1800s New York City. The Angel of Darkness has them once again in the midst of a ghastly mystery. Here's the synopsis of the Angel of Darkness novel:

June 1897. A year has passed since Dr. Laszlo Kreizler, a pioneer in forensic psychiatry, tracked down the brutal serial killer John Beecham with the help of a team of trusted companions and a revolutionary application of the principles of his discipline. Kreizler and his friends—high-living crime reporter John Schuyler Moore; indomitable, derringer-toting Sara Howard; the brilliant (and bickering) detective brothers Marcus and Lucius Isaacson; powerful and compassionate Cyrus Montrose; and Stevie Taggert, the boy Kreizler saved from a life of street crime—have returned to their former pursuits and tried to forget the horror of the Beecham case.

But when the distraught wife of a Spanish diplomat begs Sara's aid, the team reunites to help find her kidnapped infant daughter. It is a case fraught with danger, since Spain and the United States are on the verge of war. Their investigation leads the team to a shocking suspect: a woman who appears to the world to be a heroic nurse and a loving mother, but who may in reality be a ruthless murderer of children.

I found The Alienist to be a triumph of production design, but it left me a bit cold overall. Still, the three leads are compelling enough, and I'm always up for more stylish, gothic mysteries, so I look forward to seeing what The Angel of Darkness brings.