Where We Left Everyone After 'Sanditon' Season 1

Before 2019, Sanditon was the deep-cut Jane Austen novel known only to superfans. Only 11 chapters were written before she died, enough to establish tone (rollicking comedy) and set-up, with heroine Charlotte Heywood. The eldest of a country gentleman, she goes to the titular seaside town with the Parkers, houseguests after a carriage crash, investors in Sanditon to make it a holiday destination. She meets Diana Parker, who has brought Miss Lambe from the West Indies to find a husband, and Sidney Parker, the second eldest. She also heads to the house of Lady Denham, the Parkers' principal investor, and meets nieces Esther and Clara, the latter of who has a "secret understanding" with Lady Denham's niece Sir Edward.

That's all there is to the book. There are "completed" versions, the most famous of which Marie Dobbs wrote. However, the story didn't become mainstream until Andrew Davies, best known for his Jane Austen adaptations for TV, decided to take it upon himself to modernize and complete the story as an eight-part TV series for ITV. The show, canceled before it hit American shores in January 2020, was viewed as over when the finale arrived at the end of February, until it was magically revived in May 2021.

Since it's been over two years since that finale, let's run down what you may have forgotten.