HBO has renewed Youth, Sharon Horgan’s comedy about a divorced woman starting over at fifty, for a second season — just one day after the first season’s finale aired. The renewal was announced on Monday, November 2, 2026, and it is one of the fastest pickups of the autumn.
The speed tells its own story. Season 1 premiered on September 20, 2026, with two episodes, then aired weekly on Sundays through the finale on November 1. Eight episodes, six weeks, and a renewal the next day. Deadline confirmed the pickup, according to CBR, and HBO’s own announcement says all eight episodes of the first season are available to stream on HBO Max.
A hit with critics and audiences
The reviews help explain the hurry. FanBolt, reporting on November 3, put the first season at 94 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from 34 reviews, with an 82 on Metacritic. Chortle, reporting the same day, put the Rotten Tomatoes score at 97 percent and quoted HBO saying Youth is one of its top five comedy launches globally. The two outlets disagree on the exact score, but not on the verdict: this is one of HBO’s best-reviewed comedies of the year.
Horgan created, wrote and stars in the series as Alex, a 50-year-old divorced London literary agent juggling ailing parents, a son who came home soon after leaving for university, and a love life that refuses to stay simple. Rupert Friend, Sharlene Whyte, Aran Murphy and Robbie Gee co-star, and Horgan executive-produces through Merman, the company she co-founded in 2014.
What happens next
Horgan welcomed the renewal in a statement, saying: “I’m so happy to get another opportunity to live out my emotional and biological crises on HBO.” HBO has not announced a premiere date, episode count or production start for the new season, and no release window has been confirmed — a return next autumn is possible on the show’s yearly pattern, but that is not official.
Youth is Horgan’s latest success after Catastrophe and Bad Sisters, and its renewal sits alongside Netflix’s pickup of Nobody Wants This for a fourth season as the two big comedy renewals of the first week of November. For HBO, which has had a strong autumn for original comedy, it is a vote of confidence in a show that found its audience fast — and in a star who, at fifty, is playing the most interesting character on the network.
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