Spoilers ahead if you haven’t seen The Institute: The first season ends with Tim (Ben Barnes) helping Luke (Joe Freeman) and a group of young kids with psychic abilities escape the establishment that has been experimenting on them. “Set free but hunted, new dangers await the escapees from the Institute and I can’t wait,” King said in a statement about the renewal. In their own statement, director and executive producer Jack Bender and writer and EP Benjamin Cavell said, “We’ve been so gratified by the response to our first season, which is a testament to the dedication of our fantastic cast and crew. We’re thrilled that Michael Wright and everyone at MGM have enabled us to continue Stephen’s powerful and timely story. From this project’s inception, we’ve felt there would be much more story to tell as our brilliant characters continue to navigate their way through the dangers of the world they’re facing.”
The Institute is just one of a glut of King adaptations on the 2025 slate, in addition to The Monkey, The Life Of Chuck, The Running Man, The Long Walk, and IT: Welcome To Derry. In her B review of the first season, The A.V. Club‘s Saloni Gajjar said The Institute “stays true to the spirit of the author’s work as a well-balanced mix of harrowing and hopeful, even when bogged down by its runtime.” In addition to Barnes and Freeman, the cast includes Mary-Louise Parker, Simone Miller (Run the Burbs), Fionn Laird (Under The Banner Of Heaven), Jason Diaz, and Jane Luk. According to MGM+’s press release, casting for the second season will be announced at a later date.
