‘The Deuce’ Season 2 premieres September 9 on HBO

“The Deuce” returns for  Season 2 on HBO September 9. The series chronicles the rise of pornography and the multibillion-dollar industry’s transformation of American culture. The second season picks up five years after the first season ends and will be set in 977’s Times Square area of midtown New York at its most garish and volatile.

Season 2 Synopsis: 

   
Amid a city that is as culturally dynamic as it is dystopic, the show finds its protagonists living at the apex of the Golden Age of Porn, when the dream of a mainstream X-rated film business is suddenly a credible reality, and the culture of pornography and its blatant commodification of sex is finding increasing traction among more and more Americans.

Disco and punk are in full swing, and police corruption and political tolerance for New York’s midtown demimonde is at its height. And the Mafia, the early backer of pornography at the moment when courts declared for its legality, is now seemingly poised to reap great profits. A comparable – and, in some ways, more professional – porn industry is rising on the West Coast as well. But for now, New York is holding its own in a city flush with movies, music and art, as the drug-fueled party rages around the clock.

The series stars James Franco as both Vincent Martino, a successful manager of several mob-backed nightspots, and his twin brother, Frankie Martino, whose own business ventures are more fraught, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Candy, now a rising director of ambitious porn films. The returning cast also includes: Gary Carr as C.C. and Gbenga Akinnagbe as Larry Brown, both Eighth Avenue pimps coping with the changing realities of the sex trade; Margarita Levieva as Abigail “Abby” Parker, who brings her artistic and political sensibilities to the Hi-Hat bar while navigating life with Vincent; Dominique Fishback  as Darlene and Emily Meade as Lori, prostitutes who gain a measure of independence as their film careers rise; Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. as NYPD detective Chris Alston; Chris Bauer  as massage parlor manager and Martino brother-in-law Bobby Dwyer; Michael Rispoli as Mafia capo Rudy Pipilo; and Chris Coy as nightclub proprietor Paul Hendrickson.

Season two finds Luke Kirby joining the cast as a series regular as Gene Goldman, an incoming Koch administration official bent on reform, and Jamie Neumann joining as a series regular as Ashley, a former sex worker turned activist. Guests include Zoe Kazan, Ralph Macchio, Mustafa Shakir, David Krumholtz, Don Harvey, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Daniel Sauli and Sepidah Moafi.

     

Premiere Episode Description: 

            Episode #9 (season 2, episode 1): “Our Raison d’Être”

            Debut date: Sunday, September 9 (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT)

            Times Square, 1977. After his early successes managing the Hi-Hat and French Parlor, Vincent (James Franco) is now proprietor of a new mob-backed disco, Club 366, while his girlfriend Abby (Margarita Levieva) has brought the nascent punk-rock culture into the Hi-Hat. Vincent’s twin brother, Frankie (James Franco), remains a problem, “borrowing” money from Show Land, the sex emporium he manages, to pay off his debts. Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), now a “triple threat” as a porn actress, producer and director, is looking to make more artful, ambitious adult films, over the objections of her collaborator, Harvey (David Krumholtz). C.C. (Gary Carr) pulls a con on Bernie Wolf (Stephen Gevedon), the director of a porn film starring Lori (Emily Meade), to get her more money. Hoping to launch a more upscale gay nightclub, Paul (Chris Coy) looks to sever mob ties from his current bar. Alston (Lawrence Gilliard, Jr.), now a homicide detective, is approached by Gene Goldman (Luke Kirby), a civil servant appointed by Mayor Koch to clean up Times Square.

            Written by David Simon & George Pelecanos; directed by Alex Hall.