On the heels of Luck‘s official premiere on Sunday, HBO has renewed the horse racing drama from Michael Mann and David Milch for a 10-episode second season.
The series starring Dustin Hoffman had already been working on scripts for Season 2, and production will begin at the end of February.
The network had started prep work early because of the small window it has to film at the Santa Anita racetrack where a significant portion of the show is shot.
Luck‘s second season will premiere in January 2013.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the critical response to this beautiful piece of work, and we are very excited about where David and Michael plan to take these incredible characters,” said HBO Programming president Michael Lombardo.
Luck‘s first episode, originally previewed after the Boardwalk Empire season finale in December to 1.1 million viewers, drew another 1.1 million in its regular premiere at 9 PM on Sunday. If that were a true series debut, it would be in line with the launches of such softly rated HBO series as Treme (1.125 million) and the now-defunct Bored To Death (1.034 million). Luck was rebroadcast again at 10 PM (711,000) and 11 PM (420,000) for a total of 3.3 million sampling the pilot in the December preview and on Sunday.
Luck is a behind-the-track look at the world of horse racing and gambling’s denizens – owners, trainers, jockeys and gamblers.
Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte lead the cast, which also includes Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Richard Kind, Kevin Dunn, Ian Hart, Ritchie Coster, Jason Gedrick, Kerry Condon, Gary Stevens, Tom Payne, and Jill Hennessy. Milch and Mann executive produce the current first season with Carolyn Strauss.
