For three weeks, we’ve watched the story of why Cassandra Austen burned the letters her sister wrote to their friend Eliza. Is there still more to the story in Miss Austen? We have some disappointing news.
There isn’t a new episode of Miss Austen tonight, Sunday, May 25. This isn’t where the bad news stops, either. Those who want to see what’s next in the story will be disappointed, as we don’t get to see why Cassandra ended up being so vilified for her actions.
Why isn’t there a new episode of Miss Austen on tonight?
To start the bad news, the two episodes that aired on Sunday, May 18 were the last two episodes of the miniseries. If you happened to miss the last one, you can check it out on PBS Masterpiece, but yes, PBS opted to put the two final episodes on back-to-back.
These episodes caught us up to what we know about Cassandra. She took many of Jane’s letters to Eliza and burned them. People have never really understood why, with plenty of theories about hatred and jealousy. However, Miss Austen made it clear that this was an act of love, as she realized just how much her sister feared the reality of her feelings getting out into the world after her death.
There won’t likely be a second season of Miss Austen
This series was written as a limited series, and that’s probably the way that it will stay. After all, we know about the aftermath. We know that the world viewed Cassandra as someone meanspirited for burning so many letters. This series was focused on the reason why she did such a thing.
There isn’t much more of the story to tell. I know many would love to see what came of Isabella’s life with Mr. Lidderdale, and there will be some who would like to see Mary get her just desserts, but there just isn’t the need for it.
The series did perform well in the UK, though. This is where we need to look for a renewal, as the BBC is who the series was originally created for. However, before the BBC renews it, there will need to be a planned story. It’s rare for the network to renew a show that was intended to be a limited series.
Miss Austen is available to stream on PBS Masterpiece.
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