INDIANAPOLIS — (NOTE: The story below contains spoilers from the first season of "Based on a True Story.")
A year and a half after debuting its first season, "Based on a True Story" is back for a sophomore outing.
In the first season of the comedic murder mystery, a realtor (Kaley Cuoco), a former professional tennis player (Chris Messina) and a plumber (Tom Bateman) join together to capitalize on America's obsession with true crime — but not everyone is who they say they are.
"Season 1 found us at an incredible cliffhanger where Kaley's and Chris' characters, Ava and Nathan, look like they're about to be discovered that they've been involved with a serial killer and a murder and profiting off this poor serial killer," said Bateman ("Murder on the Orient Express," "Behind Her Eyes"), who plays the serial killer, Matt Pierce. "Season 2 picks up not where you'd expect it to go. There's a time jump. Catch up, audience. Get on board this fast-moving train."
Liana Liberato ("The Best of Me," "Scream VI") plays Tory Thompson, Ava's younger sister, who gets an expanded storyline in the second season.
"You leave Tory in Season 1 sleeping with a serial killer," Liberato said. "The big question for Season 2 is will Tory find out? How is she going to react to that? She has the moral high ground in the first season, and you wonder if she's gonna hold onto that in Season 2."
When casting "Based on a True Story," executive producer Michael Costigan ("Lessons in Chemistry," "The Outsider") knew Cuoco was the perfect leading lady for the role following her Emmy nominations for "The Flight Attendant."
"Like the rest of the world, we love her, and we sent it to her. She read it and said, 'This is crazy and mental and funny and true crime — I'm in,'" Costigan said. "We've just had a blast making two seasons of it, and I'm really excited for the audience to see this new season because it's even wilder and crazier than last season."
Melissa Fumero ("Brooklyn Nine-Nine") joins the cast for the second season of "Based on a True Story," as Ava's new mom friend — although she doesn't share the same passion for true crime.
"We were all so starstruck, and she was like, 'What are you talking about?'" Costigan said of Fumero. "She was so fun, and she and Kaley had such a blast. Also, what's so great about her, like Kaley who lived in a character for a long time, she lived in a character for a long time, so the audience is going to have so much fun meeting this new character."
It's no secret our society is obsessed with true crime these days, but "Based on a True Story" takes a comedic spin on that.
"It's wild and dangerous and kind of funny that all of us are so obsessed with this true crime," Costigan said. "We hope the show allows you to dig in and go down that rabbit hole of true crime and also have fun along the way."
"What I do love is being given an area to explore the dark comedy elements of it," Bateman said. "Why are we obsessed with this? What is it about this? Why are we fascinated by it and almost will it to happen? It's a really interesting area of our human being, our psyches that I think bringing some dark comedy to always opens a few more windows."
All eight episodes of the second season of "Based on a True Story" will be released Thursday, Nov. 21 on Peacock.