Kings Of Jo’Burg was one of the most successful South African series on Netflix, but a second season wasn’t guaranteed after creator Shona Ferguson died in 2021. His wife Connie took up the reins, however, and somehow managed to plot out a second season that keeps its creator and star’s presence in mind while advancing the story of the Masrie family.
KINGS OF JO’BURG SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: We hear digging. Then we see the car belonging to Mogomotsi “Mo” Masire (Zolisa Xaluva) as he digs a hole for a body. We also see him sleeping, envisioning this burial along with his last interaction with his brother Simon (the late Shona Ferguson). A spiritual fog moves from the hole into Mo.
The Gist: The Kings of Jo’Burg have been in flux since Simon disappeared without a trace. The natural person to step up would be Mo, especially with a big heist planned and being led by his son Tlotlo (TK Sebothoma). But Mo is reluctant to take the reins, but he’s feeling pressure mainly because the heist isn’t going to wait until whenever Simon returns — if he returns at all.
His main focus is his relationship with a pregnant Phumzi (Cindy Mahlangu). She has to explain to Mo why she had a gun; she had testified against Aliko Bajo (Enyinna Nwigwe). But as we see when she talks to her uncle, Agent Stan Mazibuko (Sello Sebotsane), she is actually undercover, for her own protection. But she wants to take things with Mo to the next level; she needs Stan’s help to keep her real identity secret.
Mo has a background check done on Phumzi, which comes out clean. He later tells her that he doubted her, but proposes to her and tells her that won’t happen again. He even gets her uncle’s blessings first, showing that he wants to do this the right way.
In the meantime, Tlotlo and company want to get the big gold heist done, whether Simon is around or not. They even go so far as to kidnap an engineer who knows how to get to the gold, threatening his wife in order to get him to spill the details. But right before his wedding, Mo calls off the heist, asserting himself as the new King.
Also in the meantime, a new agent, Victor Gaxa (Thapelo Mokoena), has taken over the Masrie investigation; he personally gives Stan, who led the investigation, his forced retirement papers. He’s determined to bring the Masrie family down, and we see him and another agent, Gail Basia (Altovise Lawrence), staking out the wedding, when they see a mysterious figure riding up on a motorcycle.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? We’ll stay with the comparison we made in our Season 1 review of Kings Of Jo’Burg: It’s pretty analogous to the series Gangs Of London.
Our Take: It must have been extraordinarily difficult for the creative team of Kings Of Jo’Burg, including Shona Ferguson’s widow Connie Ferguson, to continue the show after Shona died of COVID complications in 2021. He was the show’s creator and star, and Simon was integral to the show’s story about a major Johannesburg crime family. The fact that Simon went missing at the end of Season 1 — likely killed by Mo — did give the creative team an opening, and the show manages to navigate the devastating blow as well as could be expected.
Mo was mostly the center of the show in Season 1, despite what we said above about Simon’s presence; with Simon permanently out of the picture, Mo becomes even more prominent, which helps with the show’s continuity. But the first episode sets up a rivalry between Mo and his son Tlotlo in the power vacuum that Simon is leaving behind. Mo, having served a decade in prison in Botswana, has no stomach for the big heist that Simon had plan, but it feels like Tlotlo isn’t going to take his father’s cancellation of the heist as the final answer.
This rivalry is going to determine whether the season will be as successful as the first season was. Connie Ferguson plays Simon’s twin Victoria, who comes back to the family after 20 years away, and it’ll be interesting to see if she helps fill that leadership void both in front and behind the camera.
Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.
Parting Shot: As Veronica gets off her motorcycle, the wedding comes to a halt. Mo tells Phumzi, “That’s Veronica. Simon’s twin.”
Sleeper Star: We don’t see a ton of Buhle Samuels as Simon’s wife Angela, but she’ll still factor into the second season at some point.
Most Pilot-y Line: There are flashbacks to when Mo’s mother became possessed with the same demon that went from Simon to Mo when he disappeared. The only way we can tell that they’re flashbacks, though, is that they’re shot in a manner that slightly fades the colors. It’s a bit confusing.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Despite trying circumstances, it looks like Kings Of Jo’Burg has come back with a strong second season.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.