Designated Survivor (season 2)


The second season of the American political drama series Designated Survivor was ordered on May 11, 2017. It premiered on September 27, 2017, and consisted of 22 episodes. The series is produced by ABC Studios and The Mark Gordon Company, and is filmed in Toronto and Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Premise

One year into office, President Thomas Kirkman juggles searching for the mastermind behind the attack on the Capitol Building, dealing with the day-to-day situations that take place at home and abroad, and surviving attacks against his administration.

Cast and characters

Main

Production

Designated Survivor was renewed for a second season on May 11, 2017. Former The Good Wife executive producer Keith Eisner will take over as showrunner for the second season. Eisner will be the fourth showrunner for the show, replacing Jeff Melvoin, who was hired as showrunner in December 2016, taking over for Jon Harmon Feldman. The show's original showrunner Amy B. Harris stepped down due to creative differences after the series' official pickup in February 2016.
On June 22, 2017, cast member Virginia Madsen announced that she would not be returning for the second season as Kimble Hookstraten as she commented "I guess they had other stories to tell. It's a big show so I wish them well." After the first-season finale, Sutherland announced that the show would add three new characters for the second season. Two of the character descriptions was "a "fiery" female White House Counsel and a "ruggedly handsome" MI6 operative who crosses paths with Hannah." TVLine announced on June 29, 2017, that Paulo Costanzo had been cast as a series regular role as Lyor Boone, the new White House Political Director. Deadline reported on July 17, 2017, that Ben Lawson had been cast as the series regular character Damian Rennett, an MI6 operative. In the same month, it was announced that Zoe McLellan was cast in a series regular role as attorney and White House counsel, Kendra Daynes. In November 2017, Kim Raver was cast in the recurring role of engineer and space entrepreneur, Andrea Frost. In January 2018, Michael J. Fox was cast in the recurring role of Washington attorney and special prosecutor, Ethan West. In March 2018, Nora Zehetner was cast in the recurring role of Russian cultural attaché, Valeria Poriskova.

Ratings