It has been a year since Amazon’s Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets premiered and probed the Duggar family’s connection to the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Since there’s so much more to explore, many viewers are interested in a second season of the docuseries.
The Duggars became famous for their unusually large family, which earned them a reality TV show, 19 Kids and Counting. However, the family’s illusion of a large, happy, and religious family was shattered when news arose that the oldest son, Josh Duggar, molested several of his minor sisters as a teenager. What stirred the most outrage was how the family tried to cover it up and how parents Jim Bob and Michelle showed more concern for Josh than their daughters. Several years later, Josh was found guilty of possessing child pornography and sentenced to prison.
Since then, Jim Bob and Michelle’s daughter, Jill Duggar Dillard, has provided further insight into the family’s strict rules, hypocrisy, judgment towards their daughters, and greed, including Jim Bob exploiting his kids for money and denying them a share of the reality TV earnings. Shiny Happy People shocked viewers as Dillard exposed her parents’ secrets, and the documentary delved into the Duggar’s following of IBLP, a cult-like religious organization with numerous victims that has covered up sexual misconduct and encouraged child abuse and misogyny in its followers. The IBLP and Duggar rabbit hole goes quite deep, opening the door for a potential second season.
Has Shiny Happy People been renewed for season 2?
Shiny Happy People hasn’t been officially confirmed by Amazon yet. However, rumors suggest a second season is happening. Reports of a second season started with The Ashley’s Reality Roundup, which found a list of productions currently filming in Georgia and saw Shiny Happy People season 2 was listed among the titles. Despite the lack of an official announcement, it seems like reasonably credible evidence that the show is happening, raising questions about what the new season will tackle.
On the one hand, the show could continue exploring the IBLP cult, as there are likely many more victims of the organization, and season 1 only scratched the surface of the corruption. However, some have also suggested that the show tackle another large family believed to have ties to IBLP: the Bates family. The Bates family were friends with the Duggars and eventually earned their own reality TV show, Bringing Up Bates, which followed their daily lives as a family with 19 children. Many are eager to know more about the Bates family and their connection to the Duggars and IBLP.
Shiny Happy People may also investigate the Duggars further. Since the documentary, Dillard and her husband have continued speaking out about her family, including releasing a book, Counting the Cost, with some new revelations. Shiny Happy People could go in many directions as the Duggar and IBLP corruption goes quite deep, and there are additional families caught up in their tangled web.
