If Sweet Tooth season 2 feels like it’s been a long time coming, that’s because it has. Netflix’s big-budget adaptation of Jeff Lemire’s post-apocalyptic Vertigo comic was an unexpected hit when it landed in June 2021, and the streaming platform has now confirmed that the wait will end this April.

Sweet Tooth's second season could be the perfect way to fill that Armageddon-shaped hole in your life – albeit in a slightly cuter, less gory way. The Netflix show’s set in a dangerous world still reeling from the aftermath of the so-called “Great Crumbl”” – the fall of civilization brought about by a global pandemic known simply as “the Sick”. There are also lots of half human, half animal hybrid kids running around, who may or may not be connected to the fall of humanity.

Gus, a young Hybrid with the antlers and ears of a deer, becomes a target for General Abbot and his Last Men militia. Luckily, former football player Tommy 'Big Man' Jepperd has become the kid’s protector. But, with the duo kept apart by events in the season 1 finale, it looks like Sweet Tooth season 2 is going to be anything but plain sailing for Gus and the other Hybrids. From its confirmed release date to its official trailer, and its cast to its plot, here's what you need to know about the return of one of the best Netflix shows.

Sweet Tooth season 2 release date

Netflix has confirmed Sweet Tooth season 2 will be released on April 27. 

The show's renewal wasn't a massive surprise. Not only did Sweet Tooth shoot straight to the top of the Netflix charts upon its initial June 2021 launch, the streamer also confirmed (via Deadline) that the show was watched by more than 60 million member households during its first seven weeks.

Subsequently, the world's best streaming service took less than two months to confirm Sweet Tooth season 2 was happening, making the announcement via a video that played on its lead character’s love of candy:

Sweet Tooth season 2 trailer

Netflix released the first Sweet Tooth season 2 trailer on March 21. It's a surprisingly creepy affair and suggests we might be in store for a darker second act in the tradition of The Empire Strikes Back. There are scenes of Gus being subjected to experimentation, lots of other Hybrid kids in captivity (including newcomers like Earl Elephant), and hints that Jepperd and Aimee Eden might be about to mount a rescue. 

However, as the General reminds Gus about his importance in finding a potential cure for “the Sick”, the kid makes it clear that he’s ready to fight back. “My Pubba taught me, if I saw a human I should hide,” he says. “But I am done hiding!”

Sweet Tooth season 2 story

Going on the trailer, we expect Sweet Tooth season 2's story to pick up exactly where its predecessor left off – especially as the show has started to bring its key players together. That's seemingly echoed by the surprisingly comprehensive Sweet Tooth season 2 synopsis released by Netflix:

“As a deadly new wave of 'the Sick' bears down, Gus and a band of fellow Hybrids are held prisoner by General Abbot and the Last Men. Looking to consolidate power by finding a cure, Abbot uses the children as fodder for the experiments of captive Dr Aditya Singh, who’s racing to save his infected wife Rani. To protect his friends, Gus agrees to help Dr Singh, beginning a dark journey into his origins and his mother Birdie’s role in the events leading up to The Great Crumble. 

“Outside the Preserve, Tommy Jepperd and Aimee Eden team up to break the Hybrids free, a partnership that will be tested as Jepperd’s secrets come to light. As the revelations of the past threaten the possibility of redemption in the present, Gus and his found family find themselves on a collision course with Abbot and the evil forces that look to wipe them out once and for all.”

Although the show is based on Jeff Lemire’s comic book series, the source material might not offer that many further clues about what to expect from Sweet Tooth season 2. Lemire’s story is much darker and more violent than the more family-oriented TV series, which makes some major changes from the page.

“The ambition was to create it for a family audience,” producer Susan Downey told Variety. “We want the whole family to be able to watch together. We talked to Jeff Lemire about how Gus is our true north and how his journey and his relationship to Jep and this interesting cast of characters and challenges they meet along the way are what’s important. 

“That’s when we brought [co-showrunner/director] Jim Mickle on and we talked about creating this storybook or fairytale dystopia – this idea that if there was a drastic reduction in population, nature would take over again and it would be green and lush. We all felt confident, and Jeff gave us the blessing that we were keeping what was important to the storytelling and putting it in a more palatable environment.”

Beyond the shift in tone – “You can do different things with comics and with drawings that, if you were to do on screen, it would be beyond shocking,” Lemire pointed out to the Daily Express – changes range from the minor (Jepperd was an ice hockey player in the comic, rather than a football star) to the fundamental (the characters of Bear and Aimee didn’t exist before the TV show). Other differences in Lemire’s comic include Jepperd handing Gus over to the Last Men, and the Animal Army being a group of adult fanatics, rather than the teen freedom fighters seen on TV.

And even though the Covid-19 pandemic didn't manage to significantly disrupt the show – season 1 was filmed in New Zealand while much of the world was living through lockdowns – Schwartz says real-life has been an inspiration on Sweet Tooth in some ways.

“In a way, [the pandemic] helped us,” she admitted to RadioTimes.com. “We didn’t have to go too deep into explaining to our audience, ‘This is the pandemic. This is what happened.’ We could do it with simple nods, like the hand sanitizer, or the ‘6-feet apart’ sign that everyone kind of understood.”

Sweet Tooth season 2 cast

Here's the Sweet Tooth season 2 cast list, as confirmed by Netflix:

• Nonso Anozie as Tommy Jepperd/Big Man
• Christian Convery as Gus/Sweet Tooth
• Adeel Akhtar as Dr Aditya Singh
• Aliza Vellani as Rani Singh
• Stefania LaVie Owen as Bear/Rebecca Walker
• Dania Ramirez as Aimee Eden
• Neil Sandilands as General Douglas Abbot
• Marlon Williams as Johnny Abbot
• Naledi Murray as Wendy
• James Brolin as the Narrator

There'll also be plenty more Hybrid kids joining Gus in Sweet Tooth season 2 – some new, some returning from season 1. They'll include Yonas Kibreab as Finn Fox, Harvey Gui as Max Skunk, Aeon Scott as Anna Rabbit, Cyan Scott as Hanna Rabbit, Ruby Hall as Haley Mockingbird, Erin Minchin as Jo Jo Raccoon, Ravi Narayan as Earl Elephant, and Christopher Cooper Jr as Teddy Turtle. Amie Donald, who plays Maya Monkey, had another notable role recently as the titular child robot in smash-hit horror M3GAN.

While it's yet to be officially confirmed, we'd be very surprised if we don't see more from Amy Seimetz, after the season 1 finale hinted she still has a big part to play as Gus’ mom – or, more accurately, creator – Birdie. There could also be a return for Will Forte as Gus's late 'Pubba' if flashback sequences are required.

There's also been plenty of speculation about whether the show's most famous producer, Robert Downey Jr, might join the Sweet Tooth season 2 cast – and who he could play if he ever decides to step in front of the camera. 

“I think if our trio in the film became kind of a foursome and he just joined our band along the way and kind of helped us, and maybe helped us along the way in some way…” Anozie told ComicBook.com when asked who Downey could play. “I think a character that maybe didn't appear in the comic book, that he could actually come along and play. I actually think he would have made an interesting General Abbot as well, but I feel like Neil Sandilands has done such a great job in that. But if he was to come on, I think he'd have to join our gang, for sure.”

What questions will Sweet Tooth season 2 answer?

There are so many questions that need answering in Sweet Tooth season 2.

Most importantly, we need to find out why Birdie created human/deer Hybrid Gus (short for Genetic Unit Series 1), if/how his existence led to the birth of all of the other Hybrids, and if they’re connected to “the Sick” that has killed millions of people around the world.

With a cure for the disease also likely to be a key storyline, it would be helpful to know how close Dr Gladys Bell got to finding a cure – and how far Dr Aditya Singh is prepared to go to save his infected wife, Rani. Will he sacrifice Hybrid lives, or will his meeting with Gus change his outlook on the endeavor – even if it means attracting the wrath of the General?

Other questions on the need-to-know list include the reasons for Birdie’s trip to Alaska (is she working on a cure for “the Sick” of her own?), why those hallucinogenic purple flowers appear where people are infected, and whether Bear/Rebecca will be reunited with her Hybrid sister, Wendy.

We’re also expecting flashbacks to show us more about Gus’s early days, and to fill in the gaps between the birth of Jepperd’s Hybrid child and his first encounter with Gus – presumably explaining his decisions to join, and subsequently leave, the Last Men.

“I spoke to Jim Mickle, the director, about the character arc and where Tommy’s going to go in relation to some of [the flashbacks],” star Nonso Anozie teased in an interview with the Daily Express. “Some of it is going to be directly from the comic and some of it is going to be stuff that suits our audiences and suits the characters of the Sweet Tooth retelling.”

And who knows, maybe Big Man will even get to try out the 'pass the ball' game Gus used to play with his Pubba.

For more Netflix TV-based coverage, read our guides on Arcane season 2, The Witcher season 3, and Stranger Things season 5.