Prime Video's A League of Their Own Deserves #MoreThanFour

Adapting one of the most beloved baseball films of all time for television is no small feat — the proof lies in the failed 1993 A League of Their Own sitcom. Despite having the talents of some of the movie’s cast and crew in front of and behind the screen, the magic of the original just didn’t translate. So what Prime Video’s 2022 A League of Their Own series managed to accomplish was nothing short of a marvel. Season 1 understood what made the movie so universally endearing — the underdog story, charming female leads, the chemistry among the ensemble cast — while also acknowledging that there were more complex stories to tell. The series’s focus on both the joys and struggles of being queer or Black or a woman, or a combination of all three, created a deep well of stories that inspired incredible performances, and the Season 1 finale set up even more to explore.

That’s what makes Amazon’s potential decision to abbreviate Season 2 so disappointing. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Sony Pictures Television-produced series has been given a renewal offer for a final season consisting of just four episodes. Sony has yet to confirm that to be the case, and showrunner Will Graham took to Twitter to assure viewers that nothing is official yet.

“So if you want to see more episodes or more seasons of this show, now is your moment,” he wrote. “People are listening.”

Already fans are taking the notion to heart, blasting social media with the hashtag #MoreThanFour and sharing what the show means to them. One group, the Renew A League of Their Own fan campaign, even announced plans to fly a banner displaying the hashtag and a plea for renewal over Amazon Studios on March 15. The consensus among those speaking out is that there is a desire for more queer- and Black-led stories in television, especially when they’re as compelling, thoughtful, steamy, and entertaining as the ones A League of Their Own has told so far.

One of the greatest resources both Graham and showrunner/star Abbi Jacobson utilized for the series was history. The series takes many of its cues from real moments and figures associated with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Based on that alone, this show could have 12 seasons in it — the real-life Rockford Peaches played through the entirety of the league’s run, from 1943 to 1954. They didn’t win a championship until 1945, so if ALOTO is following that timeline, it would need at least two more seasons to wrap things up with a victory.

Setting aside the fact that there’s much more fodder for new stories than can be contained in only four episodes, there’s also the matter of all the potential in Season 1’s cliffhangers. The finale episode, “Perfect Game,” planted seeds that could continue growing over multiple seasons.

Carson Shaw (Jacobson) ended the season at peace with the fact that she had no idea what was next — at that point, even the next baseball season, which was Carson’s top priority, wasn’t certain. However, things got a little less ​​laissez-faire when her husband, Charlie (Patrick J. Adams), saw her sneaking a kiss with Greta Gill (D’Arcy Carden). It’s one more forced step out of the closet for Carson, who hadn’t yet built up the courage to leave Charlie, let alone give him any insight into why. Whether or not he keeps things a secret and how that betrayal in their marriage affects Carson’s life remains to be seen. We can venture to guess that no matter the outcome, Carson will do whatever it takes to continue her baseball career, growing more into her own as a leader on the team.

Max Chapman (Chanté Adams) just started her time with Red Wright’s All-Stars in the Negro Leagues alongside her secret lover Esther (Andia Winslow). She was given a list of queer people and landmarks from her uncle Bert (Lea Robinson) to check out along the way, each of which would make for great one-episode windows into what queer communities looked like in different parts of the country at the time. And then there’s the matter of building out Bert’s world back in Rockford — we certainly wouldn’t mind sitting in on more of his parties, learning more about Bert’s struggles and joys as a trans man, and seeing Bert and his sister Toni (Saidah Arrika Ekulona) repair their relationship.

Greta was offered a job with cosmetics mogul Vivienne Hughes (Nancy Lenehan) just before the Peaches’ final game. In Season 1’s final moments, she left for New York but promised Carson she’d be back for the next baseball season. Still, there’s a lot to be explored in the off-season spending more time with the celebrity-dating, city-hopping Greta the show offered glimpses of throughout the season. And of course in any version of a second season we get, the reunion between Greta and Carson will be one of the most anticipated moments. How will their love story continue (or not)? In particular, a truncated season would rob us of Carden’s stunning performance — she only got better as the first season continued, deftly navigating the intricacies of a character who is so outwardly happy-go-lucky but inwardly guarded and all-too-aware of the dangers of being queer in the 1940s.

Clance Morgan (Gbemisola Ikumelo) ended the season with her husband still away at war, and the news of her pregnancy, which even her best friend Max doesn’t know about. She also gained a pesky new roommate who is annoyingly obsessed with being her friend — just think of the hijinks that could ensue. Jo DeLuca (Melanie Field) injured herself in the season’s final game, but with the help of her former teammates on the Peaches, was able to win it for the South Bend Blue Sox anyway. Her career is almost certainly going to continue, but she may be living life a little less vivaciously after being a victim of the attack on the queer speakeasy. The team’s chaperone Beverly (Dale Dickey) hinted to Jess McCready (Kelly McCormack) that she’d had her own struggles as a queer person at the time — we clearly have a lot more to learn about Beverly. And Lupe García (Roberta Colindrez) ended the season at the top of her game. What does the rest of her career, friendship with Jess, and mentorship of Esti González (Priscilla Delgado) look like?

All of that is just scratching the surface. There are the other characters who we have yet to learn more about, both on the Peaches and other teams in the AAGPBL and Negro Leagues. Four episodes is not enough. Hopefully Amazon executives see the cries for more and reconsider the proposal. They renewed Citadel, which The Hollywood Reporter calls a “pricey, troubled drama,” for a second season before the first season even aired — surely they can spare some extra episodes for A League of Their Own. Until things are official, fans are continuing to give it everything they’ve got to secure at least the episode count that the series deserves. In the words of our beloved Peaches, “Let’s rob the bank!”

A League of Their Own Season 1 is streaming on Prime Video. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Brianna Wellen is a TV Reporter at Primetimer who became obsessed with television when her parents let her stay up late to watch E.R.