Prime Video Gives Updates on Possible Season 2 Renewals for ‘We Were Liars,’ ‘Overcompensating’ and More

While Prime Video hasn’t officially renewed most of their new shows, it turns out the writers’ rooms have already opened on several different productions.

In a new interview, Vernon Sanders, who is the head of television at Amazon and MGM Studios, was asked about the status of several pending shows, including We Were Liars, Overcompensating, Motorheads and more.

“I think we’re unique in that Prime Video has, obviously, all the roots of that Amazon helped build. The company got started by selling books. Our relationships with readers and authors, I think, is quite unique. I think we may have stumbled upon a little bit of a recipe that’s really worked for us,” he told Deadline on Monday, July 28, about the streaming service’s success with YA shows. “Great adaptations lead to more book sales. More book sales lead to more conversation. That leads to success for all of us. I think it’s about the voice, and so it doesn’t have to just be an author who is adapting or a writer who’s adapting or a showrunner who’s adapting.”

Sanders broke down Prime Video’s programming plan, adding, “We’re also leaning into creators. We’re trying to find those folks who just have something to say and have had some success really resonating with that audience. So whether it’s Megan Park or Benito Skinner — we’re super excited by the results we’ve seen by from Overcompensating.”

He continued by giving a shout-out to “Josh [Schwarz] and Stephanie [Savage] for “incredible success, and they’re bringing that success to us” with Elle.

He went on to mention several other showrunners including We Were Liars’ Julie Plec and Mike Flanagan, who “is doing an incredible adaptation of Carrie.”

“We love working with Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter on Elle, which we think is going to be something that’s going to surprise everyone,” he said. “So it’s really about the voice and building community, and that’s what we’re focused on for this part of our strategy.”

While discussing plans for renewals, Sanders noted that Prime Video was searching for their next The Summer I Turned Pretty, which is wrapping up with its third and final season later this year.

“We knew that we had what we hoped was going to be a giant hit coming in season 3. Credit to our PR and marketing teams who teamed up on a women-led campaign that started in spring and has spread through the entire summer,” he said about bringing Jenny Han‘s novels to life. “We were extremely excited to see the results on The Better Sister, which was a big hit for us. We’ve been really pleased with the build-up, whether it’s We Were Liars or Overcompensating or Motorheads. We have The Runarounds coming later this year. We have The Girlfriend. All of these were really strategically placed throughout the year. This women-led campaign has really sort of brought it all together.”

Sanders pointed out that their international releases were finding just as much success.

“There was a giant event in New York where we brought the cast of not only our U.S.-led series and movies, but we also brought our international cast. So we had the cast of Culpa. We has Maxton Hall, which is another hit,” he concluded. “We’ve really created what we think is this fan-led community, which is really sort of humming along. So I think smart scheduling, and also this fan/customer-led campaign, has really ignited us here. We’re very, very excited by the results.”

Keep scrolling for updates on several Prime Video shows not yet renewed — but not yet canceled:

‘Overcompensating’

Sanders is “hopeful” about more episodes of Overcompensating, which is loosely based on star Skinner’s own college experience.

“We’ve got some season 2 writers rooms happening on several of our spring and early summer launches,” he shared. “We were always proud of Overcompensating, [and] just the reception of it has really, really given us even more encouragement. So stay tuned.”

‘We Were Liars’

After initial viewership success with We Were Liars, Sanders teased good news in the near future, saying, “Well, that’s one of the shows where the writers are hard at work, working on what a Season 2 would be. We’ve been really excited by the results we’ve seen there, and it’s one of the shows that I hope will have some positive news to report soon.”

He continued: “They’re hard at work in presenting us with material on a season 2, and there’s been quite a clamor from fans of that show to keep the story going. So we’ll see.”

Based on E. Lockhart‘s YA book series, We Were Liars centers on the affluent Sinclair family, known for the idyllic summers they spend on their secluded island. Lockhart also penned a prequel titled Family of Liars — which follows the moms as teenagers — and wrote an upcoming book set in the same universe. Season 2 of We Were Liars would likely pull some from Lockhart’s novels while also introducing new story lines.

‘Motorheads’

Motorheads “follows a group of outsiders in a once-thriving Rust Belt town as they form an unlikely friendship over a mutual love of automobiles,” the official logline reads.

“We were just really wowed by the idea of the show. We were launching NASCAR this summer, and so having a show that actually spoke to fans of that genre [was an asset]. It was really just the characters. We feel like we lucked out getting into business with those showrunners as well. We are conscious of not wanting to repeat ourselves,” he detailed. “So there’s a real breadth to what we’re trying to do. We’re always trying to make sure that we’ve got some shows that are earnest. We’ve got shows that have some darkness to them, [like] We Were Liars. And Motorheads has just really sort of resonated with us and struck us.”

Sanders highlighted the interest in the YA show, adding, “What I’ve been excited to see on that show in particular is we’ve got such great completion rates. So folks who start that show tend to watch it all the way through, and that’s a great sign. So thanks for asking about that show. We’re quite proud of it.”

‘Off Campus’

As some of Us continue to see all those daily casting updates, Sanders showed early support for the adaptation, which is a college-set romantic drama based on novels by Elle Kennedy.

“I will share that we’ve been obsessively watching dailies, and we’re really excited by what we’re seeing,” he shared. “We should be getting our first cuts in the not-too-distant future, and that show is definitely going to be launching in 2026. So it won’t be this year, but it will definitely be next year.”

‘Fourth Wing’

“We don’t have news to report yet, so I won’t be breaking anything here, but we’re hard at work,” Sanders added about the fantasy show about dragon riders based on the best-selling book series by Rebecca Yarros. “We love our relationship with Rebecca Yarros, who has been incredible, and we’re going to get this one right. So that would be my promise to the fans.”