Good news, Canada: Sabi Mehboob is coming back to our screens.
The CBC announced today that Sort Of, the Toronto dramedy created by Bilal Baig and Fab Filippo, has been picked up for a second season. The show stars Baig as Sabi, a gender-fluid Pakistani-Canadian millennial trying to figure out their place in the world – along with everyone else in their immediate circle of friends and family.
The renewal comes as Sort Of leads the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards with 13 nominations, including best comedy series. Baig and the producers declined to submit them for an acting nomination in protest against the Canadian Academy’s lack of non-binary categories, but they’re up for the best comedy series and best comedy writing prizes.
“We are so thrilled that we are able to dive back into the worlds of Sort Of, and to keep exploring the evolution of all our characters (including some new ones!) as they continue to investigate who they are in the world as friends, family members, lovers and human beings,” Baig said in a statement.
Critically acclaimed at TIFF last fall – NOW’s Glenn Sumi interviewed Baig right before the festival – Sort Of enjoyed a second wave of publicity when the series reached American audiences on HBO Max. (The U.S. streamer will have a more active role in the second season’s production, according to the press release.)
As pointed out in NOW’s cover story, Sabi is the first non-binary lead on Canadian television, played by the first South Asian, Muslim actor to star in a prime-time Canadian TV series. The show also stars Amanda Cordner as Sabi’s best friend 7ven and Gray Powell and Grace Lynn Kung as the couple who employ Sabi as a nanny.
The premiere date for season 2 has yet to be announced.
