The fate of the second season of Netflix’s Sacred Games is unclear in the wake of the controversy involving its co-producers, Phantom Films. The streaming platform told Scroll.in that they are currently “evaluating options on the path forward” for the show.
Phantom Films, founded in 2011 by Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Madhu Mantena, was disbanded on October 6. The same day, accusations of sexual harassment against Bahl were widely reported after a Huffington Post article detailed the Queen director’s alleged misconduct with a former employee in 2015. The report also alleged that Kashyap had ignored the woman’s complaint. Kashyap and Motwane have since issued statements distancing themselves from Bahl, who, in turn, has sent them a legal notice.
Kashyap and Motwane had directed the critically acclaimed first season of Sacred Games, which was Netflix’s first Indian original series. Based on Vikram Chandra’s novel of the same name, the police-gangster saga starring Saif Ali Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui was released on July 6. Netflix had announced on September 21 that Sacred Games would return for the second season, with filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan joining Kashyap to direct the series, while Motwane would serve as the show-runner.
Last year, Netflix has fired Kevin Spacey from its long-running political drama House of Cards after the actor was accused of sexual misconduct by actor Anthony Rapp and eight employees of the show. The sixth and final season of the show, which premieres on November 2, will centre on Robin Wright’s Claire Underwood, who takes over from Spacey’s character as President of the United States.