Karl Gajdusek has signed on as showrunner for Season 2 of Z: The Beginning of Everything.

Amazon’s TV biopic charts the life of Zelda Fitzgerald (Christina Ricci), wife of F. Scott and the the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 20s.

Created by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, the drama begins with Zelda before she meets the unpublished writer and her future husband (David Hoflin), taking us through their initial love affair and eventual marriage, before diving into their time as the celebrity couple of their age, which is destined to become plagued by alcoholism and adulter, as well as mental illness.

Prestwich and Yorkin exec produce the series, alongside Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon and Ricci.

The drama was renewed by Amazon earlier this year, shortly after its premiere on Amazon Prime Video. While Prestwich and Yorkin will stay on board as executive producers, though, Deadline reports they will be handing over the running of the show to Karl Gajdusek.

Gajdusek co-created and exec-produced ABC’s Last Resort and was also an EP on Netflix’s Stranger Things for its first season. He also wrote Tom Cruise sci-fi flick Oblivion and has just sold a spec script, Courage, to Fox.

Amazon renews Z: The Beginning of Everything for Season 2

28th April 2017

Amazon has renewed Z: The Beginning of Everything for a second season.

The drama is a fictionalised bio series of the life of Zelda Fitzgerald (Christina Ricci), wife of F. Scott and the the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 20s.

Created by Dawn Prestwich and Nicole Yorkin, the drama begins with Zelda before she meets the unpublished writer and her future husband (David Hoflin), taking us through their initial love affair and eventual marriage, before diving into their time as the celebrity couple of their age, which is destined to become plagued by alcoholism and adulter, as well as mental illness.

Prestwich and Yorkin exec produce the show, alongside Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon and Ricci.

Now, within months of its premiere on Amazon Prime Video in January, a second run has been ordered.

“We’re truly thrilled,” Ricci said at Deadline’s AwardsLine panel, after the renewal was announced. “It’s such a rich history and their story is so fascinating. It should be a pretty exciting second season.”

“Certainly, we’re going to get more into the complexities of their marriage, and what led to her (Zelda’s) breakdown,” she added.

Amazon’s Z: The Beginning of Everything gets January release date

7th December 2016

Amazon’s new original series Z: The Beginning of Everything will be released in January 2017, the streaming service has confirmed.

The show is a nifty combination of TV box set and Hollywood biopic: a fictionalised bio series of the life of Zelda Fitzgerald (Christina Ricci), the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle, who became the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant, Jazz Age in the 20s.

The show begins the moment Zelda meets the unpublished writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (David Hoflin) in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1918, and moves through their passionate, turbulent love affair and their marriage as the celebrity couple of their time.

Adultery, alcoholism and unfortunate ends are all in store, with the show jumping from salons and speakeasiers and from the US to France’s Cote D’Azur.

The show premiered as part of Amazon’s pilot season last year, which also included Good Girls Revolt and One Mississippi. The former had its first full season land this autumn, while the latter premiered at the end of summer and has already been renewed for a second season.

“It doesn’t grab you as a binge-watching must-see but an intriguing opening monologue about Fitzgerald’s view of life and use of fictional characters suggests there are places for the programme to go,” we wrote in our review of the opening episode. “With only 30-minute chunks in which to do it, a whole season certainly wouldn’t be a hard journey.”

All episodes of the first season will be released exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on 27th January 2017. Here’s a trailer for the show: