Having apparently resolved the behind-the-scene corporate issues that had put the future of the series in doubt, Bravo has announced that it has ordered a second ten-episode season of its Heidi Klum-hosted Project Runway fashion design reality competition series.
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A huge hit for the network in its first season, Project Runway 2 will once again follow a group of aspiring fashion designers as they compete for an opportunity to launch their own fashion line.
After averaging over two million viewers for its February finale (a dramatic 468% increase from the 354,000 viewers that watched its premiere) and drawing Bravo's youngest audience ever, the network had made no secret of its desire to bring back Project Runway, however the impending breakup between Runway producer Miramax Television (which also produces Bravo's Project Greenlight reality show) and its Disney parent had clouded the show's future. "It is our heartfelt intent to be able to go to season two. But nothing is a given," Bravo president Lauren Zalaznick had told MediaWeek shortly before Project Runway's February finale aired.
However according to a report in Monday's Daily Variety, the issue of Project Runway's future rights has apparently been resolved, with soon-to-depart Miramax executives Harvey and Bob Weinstein to executive produce Project Runway 2 along with Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz and their Magic Elves production company, Full Pictures' Desiree Gruber and Jane Cha, Bravo's Frances Berwick, Klum and Shari Levine.
According to Variety, Bravo is aiming to premiere Project Runway 2 as early as the third quarter of this year, however an exact date is still undetermined. "I'm hoping to launch as soon as possible, but we're going to take the time we need to get it right," Zalaznick told the trade paper.
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As for what viewers can expect to see on Project Runway 2, the network is still deciding, but as in its first season, casting will be key. "It's difficult when you get lightning in a bottle the first time. The challenges were great, but the chemistry of that first group was phenomenal," Zalaznick explained. "We're debating what we keep the same and what we change up."