February 3, 2021 (2021-02-03) – April 27, 2023 (2023-04-27)
Firefly Lane is an American drama television series created by Maggie Friedman for Netflix. The series is based on the novel of the same name by Kristin Hannah.[1] The series premiered on February 3, 2021,[2] and navigates the lives of two teenage girls in the 1970s, all the way through to their adulthood in the mid 2000s. In May 2021, the series was renewed for a second season.[3] In October 2022, it was announced that the second season would be its final season and would consist of 16 episodes, split into two parts. The first part of the second season was released on December 2, 2022, and the second part was released on April 27, 2023.[4][5]
Premise
Firefly Lane follows the friendship and bond between two women from the Seattle area, Kate Mularkey and Tallulah "Tully" Hart, from when they become neighbors at age 14 on a street named Firefly Lane, through the decades until their 40s, through the ups and downs of their lives.
Cast and characters
Main
Katherine Heigl as Tully Hart, host of the daytime talk show The Girlfriend Hour
Ali Skovbye as teenage Tully
London Robertson as young Tully 1970
Sarah Chalke as Kate Mularkey, Tully's best friend since they were 14 years old and a housewife who is trying to get back in the workforce while going through a divorce
Roan Curtis as teenage Kate
Ben Lawson as Johnny Ryan, Kate's ex-husband and the producer of The Girlfriend Hour
Beau Garrett as Cloud, Tully's free-spirited, drug-addicted mother
Yael Yurman as Marah Ryan, Kate and Johnny's teenage daughter
Greg Germann as Benedict Binswanger (season 2),[6] a wealthy businessman who is running for governor of the state of Washington whom Tully and Danny are covering for a story. He came from a family who owned a logging company known as Bincorp.
Forrest Anthony as Parker Binswanger, (credited ambiguously as "Teenage Boy" in season 1) Benedict's kinder, more sensitive brother .
On February 22, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was created and showran by Maggie Friedman who was also expected to executive produce alongside Stephanie Germain, Katherine Heigl, and Lee Rose.[1][8] On May 26, 2021, Netflix renewed the series for a second season.[3] On October 3, 2022, it was reported that the second season would be its final season which would consist of 16 episodes, splitting into two parts.[4]
Casting
On July 10, 2019, Katherine Heigl was cast in a lead role.[8] In August 2019, Ben Lawson, Sarah Chalke, Beau Garrett had been cast in starring roles.[9][10][11] In September 2019, Ali Skovbye and Roan Curtis were cast to play the teenage versions of Heigl's and Chalke's characters, Tully and Kate, respectively.[12] In the same month, Yael Yurman was cast as a series regular while Jon Ecker and Brandon Jay McLaren were cast in recurring capacities.[13] On December 17, 2019, Patrick Sabongui and Brendan Taylor joined the cast in recurring roles.[14] On February 11, 2020, Jenna Rosenow was cast in a recurring role.[15] On September 21, 2021, Ignacio Serricchio joined the cast as new series regular while Greg Germann, India de Beaufort, and Jolene Purdy were cast in recurring roles for the second season.[6] On February 11, 2022, Chris McNally was cast in a recurring capacity for the second season.[7]
Filming
Principal photography for the first season began on September 17, 2019, and ended on January 21, 2020, in Burnaby, British Columbia.[16] Vincent De Paula is the cinematographer for the series.[17] Filming for the second season began on August 30, 2021, and concluded on April 28, 2022.[18]
Release
On October 14, 2020, an official teaser was released as well as first look images.[19] The series premiered on February 3, 2021.[2] The first nine episodes of second season were released on December 2, 2022, and the final seven were released on April 27, 2023.[4][5]
Reception
Audience viewership
For the week of February 1 to 7, Firefly Lane was ranked number one in the Nielsen ratings, who announced that the show had been viewed for a total of 1.3 billion minutes.[20] The following week, it was ranked number one in the Nielsen ratings again, with a total of 1.288 billion minutes of viewing.[21] On April 20, 2021, Netflix announced that 49 million people watched the series in its first 28 days after its release.[22]
Critical response
For the first season, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 48% based on 31 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Firefly Lane has some solid ideas and a winning pair in Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke—if only the writing could live up to all that potential."[23]Metacritic gave the first season a weighted average score of 57 out of 100 based on 21 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[24]
Judy Berman of Time wrote, "By most metrics, Firefly Lane is simply not a good show. Yet despite its many limitations, there's something lovable about it."[25] Joel Keller of Decider said, "The chemistry between Sarah Chalke and Katherine Heigl will carry Firefly Lane."[26]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has a 83% approval rating based on 6 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10.[27]
