Jude Law and Jason Bateman‘s Black Rabbit took viewers on a wild ride that ended with several shocking deaths and a surprising ending — but could there be a season 2?
In the Netflix series, which premiered on Thursday, September 18, Jake (Law) reconnected with his brother, Vince (Bateman), who was struggling to pay off a large debt that he owed to the leader of organized crime in New York City (played by Troy Kotsur). Despite Jake’s best efforts, Vince’s attempt to acquire the money led to a dangerous robbery that left people dead and injured.
After running out of options, Vince (spoiler alert!) chose to take his own life by falling off a building in front of Jake. The crime thriller ultimately ended with a glimpse into Jake’s life now where he is seen working as a waiter — a major drop down from being the owner of a restaurant — but looking happier than he had during the entirety of the show.
“My hope is that in the little grace note at the end — the last moments — that Jake has pulled his life together and given himself some kind of potential,” Law, 52, exclusively told Us Weekly about the ending of the series. “He hit rock bottom — the bottom of the barrel — and he had to go up and had to sort himself out.”
The rest of the Black Rabbit cast showed their support for how Jake’s story wrapped up.
“It will hopefully make him really think about, ‘What is the point? What are we chasing for?’” Amaka Okafor, who plays Roxie, explained. “Because Jake is always chasing for something. [This is about] really being content with what you have and being happy with what you’ve got.”
Abbey Lee, meanwhile, told Us she could see Jake having to “absolutely spiral” first, adding, “He’ll probably go into a deep pit of his s*** and then crawl his way out — and I think that he’ll come out. He’s got enough love in his life and I think that the guilt will probably get him out.”
While reflecting on the larger message about Jake’s addiction to helping his troubled brother out, Chris Coy and Forrest Weber applauded the show for addressing some harsh realities.
“Unfortunately, I’ve dealt with some of that stuff — both personally and then my wife as well. It doesn’t matter what the relationship is when it’s a sibling or how cursed they may have been or how much relief might come as a consequence of their departure,” Coy, 39, who plays Babbitt, noted. “There’s a hole there and you’re never you again. You’re never the same you. You miss them every day.”
He continued: “It’s a grief that you don’t really want to lose because that’s the only way you have them anymore. I don’t think that there’s a happy ending for Jake. I think that he’s going to continue to do the best that he can in the wreckage that he stands.”
Weber pointed out that Black Rabbit was always hinting at a tragic ending.
“If we remember at the beginning of the show, Vince has a line that, ‘Maybe it would be better to just eat a gun and end it all.’ You see the conflicting emotion coming from Jake when he says, ‘Who’s going to clean that mess up?’” the actor playing Junior recalled. “So with their entire relationship, I feel like it is something that you can’t live with and can’t live without. That’s going to be dark waters. I think that he would have to navigate.”
Ahead of his brother’s death, Jake was already dealing with his personal life falling apart. Cleopatra Coleman, who portrayed Law’s onscreen love interest Estelle, addressed whether they could ever find their way back to each other in the wake of Vince’s death.
“I hope so. Maybe one day,” she shared. “It’s really interesting the way the show ends. You see Jake getting ready for service in another restaurant and you think, ‘Oh, maybe he’s opened a new restaurant.’ But no, he’s a waiter. He becomes one of those New York characters that you see and you’re like, ‘I wonder what his story is.’ I hope that Jake’s OK. And I actually hope that him and Estelle get together one day.”
The Black Rabbit stars also had a lot to say about Vince’s death. After the show revealed that one of his many demons included guilt for an accident that left a man paralyzed, the cast acknowledged the eerie parallel.
“It was beautiful. It was a gift really. It was generous. Like he’s setting his brother free really,” Okafor told Us while Coy added, “It was tragic. It’s unfortunate that some people really are dealt s***ty hands in this life. When you know those people and you’re watching — even if it’s from a distance — you can’t help but feel for them. And sometimes you can’t do anything about it.”
He continued: “Vince is one of those characters and I think that that happens for anybody watching the show who’s ever experienced anything like that. You sort of recognize that early on that man, he can’t even help it. He’s a magnet for this stuff and it’s sort of a tale as old as time.”
Despite the heartbreaking ending, the cast isn’t ruling out a possible season 2.
“I think that these characters you’ll see again, maybe,” Weber teased while Okafor noted, “I feel like it’s supposed to be a limited series. I would love it if there was, I had the best summer of my life. I would be well into that.”
Coy could see it going either way, adding, “What we all really loved about this is that it was set up that way, that there is a beginning and then a really juicy middle and there’s a really definitive end to the show. It’s like an eight-hour-long movie that you jump on and it takes off on a whirlwind and you’re done.”
Black Rabbit is currently streaming on Netflix.
With reporting by Nikaline McCarley
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