For Life has sadly come to an end after its second season, but according to star Nicholas Pinnock, that doesn't necessarily have to mean closing the book on the show permanently.
The ABC and Sky legal drama, which is inspired by the real-life story of Isaac Wright Jr, a man who studied law to help overturn convictions after he was wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, has no more episodes planned following its second season, which aired earlier this year in the US and will hit UK screens today (September 27).
Pinnock, who plays lead character Aaron Wallace in the show, has exclusively spoken to Digital Spy about his feelings over saying goodbye to the drama, confirming that the cast and crew didn't know that For Life was going to be ending while they were shooting its second season.
Related: For Life's Nicholas Pinnock opens up about the change in season 2
"No, we didn't know," he said. "We planned for the possibility that there may not have been one, but we didn't know at all, no."
In exciting news for fans of For Life, Pinnock suggested that if there is a demand for more of the show, he certainly wouldn't be opposed to returning to his character.
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"I think there's more of the story that could have been told. I'm a great believer that if there's an appetite for something... if people want it, I believe that we should do what we can to give it to them," he said. "But if there is a demand for it and people want it then they need to campaign and try to bring it back.
"If not then that's absolutely fine. I'm not disappointed that we didn't get a third season because I think we managed to tell some really good stories and managed to give something that we are all very, very proud of to an audience, and a now global audience who are responding really, really well to it.
Related: For Life star Nicholas Pinnock reveals hardest part of filming for show
"If it never comes back I can't be sad because I think what we've given them is something worthy. And if there were an opportunity I would be absolutely up for considering another season or another couple seasons, for sure."
It sounds like it's all down to the fans now...
Pinnock also spoke to us about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on people in prison and how For Life managed to weave the real-life situation into the second season's plot.
"We don't think enough about what goes on in prison," he said. " The general population do not have a care for people who are incarcerated unless they know somebody who's in prison.
"So very little was known about what happened in prisons globally during the lockdown. No one thought about it, no one thought about them. And they were suffering and they were going through the same panics and fears that we went through with the added amplification that they were incarcerated as well, and it was really hard."
Related: For Life's Nicholas Pinnock recalls incident with correction officers while filming in real prison
He added that the issue had highlighted to him "how important prison reform is, more so now than ever".
"There is so much to be done with prison reform," he explained. "Especially with what I know about mental health through my own personal experiences. The way that we deal with people who are incarcerated is absolutely atrocious..." adding: "There isn't enough money in rehabilitation".
Saying that calls to the mental health charity Mind, who he works with, "went through the roof" during the pandemic, the actor explained that "people who have been imprisoned understood" the feeling of being in lockdown.
"I had a lot of people who were incarcerated who, in season two while those episodes were being shown, could identify with what was going on and understood how people felt in their homes," he said.
For Life season 2 will air in the UK on Sky Witness and NOW on September 27 at 9pm. Season 1 is available to catch up now on Sky On-Demand and NOW.
Reporter & Sub-Editor, Digital Spy Susannah is a freelance writer and sub-editor, specialising in the entertainment industry. She graduated in 2014, with a BA in English and American Literature and Creative Writing, and an MA in Creative Producing. She’s been writing for Digital Spy ever since, after first getting involved through work experience, and has written hundreds of stories for the site on a range of topics, from The Sims to Doctor Who. Susannah has also written for Reveal Magazine. Her special interests are soaps (her Mastermind subject would be 2000s Coronation Street), Marvel and Star Wars. She can also quote far too many lines from Friends and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
