Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne Reunite in Season Two of “Heads Will Roll”
Audible today announced the highly anticipated return of the hit series Heads Will Roll, co-created by comedy powerhouses Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne. After the Audible Original’s first season landed on the New York Times Best Seller List and won over audiences with its wildly irreverent comedy, Heads Will Roll: Heir Apparent debuts on June 25 with sisters McKinnon and Lynne reprising their roles as the gloriously unhinged Queen Mortuana and her right-hand raven JoJo.
"Coming back to Heads Will Roll has been everything we hoped for," said McKinnon and Lynne. "We get to expand this ridiculous, theatrical world we created together—higher stakes, stranger magic, and choices that somehow top what we did before. There's such joy in collaborating on something this playful and chaotic. We can't wait for listeners to hear what we've cooked up for Queen Mo and JoJo."
Queen Mortuana (McKinnon) faces her fiercest challenge yet: produce an heir by her 40th birthday or lose everything. According to ancient legend, if a queen fails this task, the demon Ovaria will dethrone her and condemn her to life as Keeper of the Menstruary. With one year left and her throne on the line, Queen Mo (39) and her raven sidekick JoJo hatch increasingly desperate schemes. They enlist a mysterious Shadow Woman to create a "Marigold Child." They attempt to adopt an Irish contractor's daughter. Nothing goes according to plan.
Meanwhile, JoJo faces her own crisis when a wing-enhancement surgery goes catastrophically wrong, turning her from a raven into a toad. Her quest to break the curse leads to an unexpected romance with Dan, a kind-hearted mole from the tri-state area. Now JoJo must choose: royal duty or a chance at normal life? As Mo's 40th birthday approaches, these reluctant besties discover that family isn't always what you birth. Monarchy has never been more dysfunctional… or more entertaining.
Season two introduces a new batch of A-list stars and comedy greats, including Megan Mullally, Richard Kind, Laurie Metcalf, Sam Richardson, D’Arcy Carden, Carrie Coon, Patti Lupone, Jimmy Fallon, Jenifer Lewis, Susie Essman, Heidi Gardner, Sabrina Impacciatore, Andrea Martin, Timothy Simons, Gabby Windey, Robby Hoffman, Michael Urie, Lisa Gilroy, Daniel Breaker, Brittany Bradford, Alex Carillo-Vaccino, Mikey Day, Sean Patrick Doyle, Alon Elian, Steve Higgins, Alex Moffat, Olivia Oguma, Adam Pascal, Mallory Portnoy, Jim Santangeli, Morgan Smith and Ryan Vasquez. The series is executive produced by Britta von Schoeler and produced by Louis Caggiano for Broadway Video.
The first season of Heads Will Roll earned critical acclaim, with The Nerd Daily calling it "an auditory masterpiece fit for (an evil) queen," Medium describing it as "the redheaded lovechild of an enchanting ménage-à-trois between an audiobook, a podcast and a Broadway musical," and AudioFile praising it as "smart, snarky, and silly." The series became an instant fan favorite, with listeners immediately asking for a sequel.
"What Kate and Emily created with Heads Will Roll showed us what's possible when you give brilliant comedic minds complete creative freedom," said Rachel Ghiazza, Audible's Chief Content Officer. "The first season was foundational for Audible Originals—one of our first big hits that helped define what we could be. It became a New York Times Best Seller and proved that audio audiences are hungry for comedy this bold and inventive. Heir Apparent pushes those boundaries even further. This is the kind of fearless, genre-defying storytelling that audio was made for, and it’s exactly why we do what we do."
Heads Will Roll: Heir Apparent joins the robust slate of audio-only scripted original comedy series from Audible and Broadway Video Enterprises, including The Summer Oath, starring Maya Hawke and KJ Apa; iHeart Podcast Award winner for Best Fiction Podcast Murder at The Patel Motel, starring Maulik Pancholy and Murray Bartlett; The Good Life, starring Ty Burrell, Jennifer Garner, and Colton Dunn; Headcase, starring Chris Redd; The Best Man's Ghostwriter, starring Glen Powell and Nicholas Braun; NAACP Image Award winner Stranded, starring Taraji P. Henson and Tracee Ellis Ross; the Hot White Heist series, starring Bowen Yang; Trust Fall, starring Colin Jost and Wanda Sykes; and many more.
