Tom Hardy posts biggest hint yet that cult BBC thriller is returning for second season

Actor Tom Hardy has posted a hint on Instagram that has got fans on the edge of their seats.

Hardy is well-known for his projects in the genre of crime. From Peaky Blinders to Inception, most of us are used to seeing Hardy on our TV or streaming screens.

Taboo is one of Hardy’s popular projects. The TV show was first aired in 2017 and explored the dark side of the 19th century.

In the series, Hardy plays main character James Keziah Delane, an adventurer who comes back to London during the 1812 war to rebuild his late father's shipping empire. But his competitor and the government are after his inheritance at any cost.

The actor's show was quite popular, but the second season has unfortunately been delayed since 2019 (Lia Toby/Getty Images)

Season one was eight episodes and it ended on February 28, 2017. A second season was planned to be released in 2019, as the writer of the show Steven Knight wrote six episodes. However, due to scheduling issues, as well as the unprecedented circumstances of the pandemic, the progress of season two was stalled.

So, you can imagine how excited Taboo fans must have been when they saw Hardy post an image of the signature theme photo of Taboo on his Instagram feed today. Although Hardy has his comments switched off for Instagram, then tens of thousands of likes indicate how eager his followers are to learn more about the topic.

Speaking about a second season, Hardy previously expressed enthusiasm at a second season.

In 2021, he told Esquire: “The second season of Taboo is really, really important to me, and it’s taken a lot of thinking, because I really enjoyed the first one and I want to be really fulfilled by the second one.”

The actor also said that there was 'a series… already written', but he wasn't sure on whether they would keep the script.

Tom Hardy sent fans in a frenzy with his cryptic post (Instagram/ @tomhardy)

On Reddit, users were going hard, excuse the pun, hoping that this impromptu Instagram post is a hint at there being a second season coming soon.

One user wrote: “I mean he’s done with Venom, could be, HOPEFULLY.”

Another typed: “Please!!! We need S2!”

One user expressed some uncertainty as to what it could mean: “just saw this and noticed that he limited comments on it. If this isn’t about season 2, he’s trolling magnificently.”

Back in 2023, Hardy’s production partner Dean Baker cleared things up in an interview with the Radio Times.

Baker said: “Currently we are working on a second season of Taboo.”

Hardy himself had also previously spoken about his ideas for the next season, and they were a bit out-there to say the least.

Back in 2021, he said: “In my head I was thinking, ‘Let’s say they get to America, they get to Canada, fast-forward to 1968, the Tet Offensive, the Vietnam War, look at the CIA, the Viet Cong, the French in Saigon.

“Take the Delaney family tree out in the jungle, and recreate the same family dynamics that were happening in London but with new people, thinking about how history and corruption repeats itself.

“It’s still Taboo, it’s still period, but it’s the Sixties.

“There’s something fun about that.”