Hannah Baker's story isn't over yet.
While season one of Netflix's hit drama 13 Reasons Why may have ended with the reveal of the the final reason for Hannah's (Katherine Langford) suicide, that doesn't mean Hannah won't still be a major part of season two, even if she's no longer providing the voiceover.
"What I can tell you is certainly one question I got a lot is, 'well how can there be a season two when the story is over?'" executive producer Brian Yorkey said during a Q&A session at Netflix's FYSee event on Friday. "I'm like, what story is over? And people are like 'Hannah's,' and I'm like, well no, Hannah told her version of the events but there are at least 12 kids that have another version of those events that we haven't really heard from yet, so I think there's quite a bit more of Hannah's story to tell."
That, however, does not mean that Hannah was lying on any of the tapes that were meant to explain her decision to commit suicide.
"I don't think Hannah told any untruths on her tapes," Yorkey said. "I think she told her story and she claimed her narrative which had really been taken from her, so she reclaimed her narrative and said this is the story of my life, but there are other people who might want to tell that story differently or other players in that story might have a different perspective on some of those events."
"I think season two will give us a look at a lot of things—a lot of the events that we think we know, we may learn are more complicated than we thought, and Hannah is even more complicated than we saw season one," Yorkey continued.
There are also new stories to tell, like about what happens next for the people in Hannah's life.
"I also think that for those that Hannah left behind, that story is just beginning. Their stories of recovery are just beginning," Yorkey said. "Clay [Dylan Minette] and Olivia Baker [Kate Walsh] are two people with the most amount of healing to do, and it was just in its very beginning stages when season one ended. Season two is also about healing and how we go on, because people always say you have to go on but how do we after something like that?"
Yorkey also pointed out that there's a lot of story to explore when it comes to Jessica (Alisha Boe), who only just came to terms with the fact that she was raped by Bryce (Justin Prentice) and decided to tell her dad in the season one finale.
"I've actually had people tell me, well her story is done, she told her dad, and I think this is one of the things we are conditioned to think about stories involving rape on television," Yorkey explained. "It's covered in three to five episodes, and then you see them move onto a new love interest. Having spoken to many rape survivors and having many of them close to me...it's a life-long process, so Jessica's story is just beginning."
Overall, Yorkey is proud of what the show did in season one, and hopes to continue to tell those difficult stories despite criticism that the show went too far in its depictions of rape and suicide.
"One thing that I think we did well in season one is look long and hard at the real lives that real teenagers lead and go pretty deep into a number of young people's lives," he said. "I think a big response to the show is because we did that as truthfully as we could and people found something to identify with in the story. I'd like to keep telling those stories into these kids' lives and how they move on from here, and how they try to live lives of fullness and joy in times that are very hard."
13 Reasons Why season two goes into production next week, and season one is now streaming on Netflix.