The ending of ITV’s Joan delivered plenty of shocking moments and emotional scenes and some viewers might have been left wondering if it’ll be followed by Joan season 2.
Whether you ended up asking yourself if Boisie Hannington was a real person, or looked into if Joan went to prison for her crimes, ITV’s six-part series Joan has sparked plenty of interest in the true story that inspired it. Starring Sophie Turner as Joan Hannington, the crime drama tells the story of how she became one of Britain’s most notorious jewel thieves, nicknamed "The Godmother". All along the way, we see Joan’s determination to give her daughter a better life and the depth of her character has left viewers fascinated. However, as with many true crime dramas, there have been some changes made to real events in the show and after watching the Joan ending on ITVX, some people will likely have been left wondering if there’ll be Joan season 2.
*Warning: Spoilers for Joan episode 6 ahead*
What happened in the Joan ending?
The Joan ending was every bit as emotional as fans will have been expecting after seeing the first five episodes - not to mention packed full of drama. The heist at the Bernard Jones jewellery store finally took place, though it definitely didn’t go to plan. Instead of making off with all the jewels and escaping scot-free, the heist ended tragically with Boisie getting shot in the leg by Bernard. He had stepped in to protect Joan, who Bernard had originally aimed the gun at after learning that she was “in charge” of the heist.
Joan’s ex-partner Gary had been drafted in as a last-minute replacement for a criminal who pulled out of the heist and had gone rogue, smashing up jewellery cases and making lots of noise. He had argued with Boisie and in front of Bernard, he’d revealed Joan’s involvement. After Boisie was shot, Albie and Gary drove away, leaving Joan to help Boisie out into the alley behind the shop where he died in her arms. Before he passed away Boisie urged Joan to leave him behind and go and get her beloved daughter Kelly, who was being looked after by a foster family.
Heartbroken and sobbing, Joan did as Boisie told her and as the sound of sirens ran out, she left the alley covered in blood and ran. She later cleaned herself up and went to Kelly’s school in disguise as an American journalist named Simone Highsmith from the New York Herald.
Having phoned previously to make an appointment with the school and pretending she was writing an article on British children at play, Joan gets in and manages to tell Kelly to meet her at the gates. Mother and daughter were reunited and Joan took her away to the countryside, but her grief at the loss of Boisie was clear.
Sitting outside a caravan in tears, she sent Kelly to go inside and wipe off the red lipstick she’d applied. Only Kelly found more than either of them bargained for in her mum’s bag and when she pulled a gun out of the suitcase, it had a profound impact on Joan. Sitting outside together watching the sun set, Joan decided that she was going to take Kelly back to her foster mother, Mama Sue.
"I need to keep you safe. So you’re gonna go and…and stay with Mama Sue now. I’ve got to go away. I’m so sorry. I love you so much, Kel. Never ever forget that," she told her.
She and Kelly had a heart-wrenching goodbye scene outside Mama Sue’s house and Joan returned to her home. The police arrested her for her crimes and she went to prison, but within four years she was free once again. The final scenes of the Joan ending show her meeting up with Albie on the picturesque cliffs in Spain. Asked how she got out of prison so soon, she responded merely, "You know me. Good Behaviour."
After receiving a bag of cash from Albie, Joan told him that she was "going back to work", but that she wouldn’t be carrying out any more "little cons".
"I’m going to build myself a b***** empire," she declared, before making it very clear to Albie that she would never work with him again after he left her and Boisie years earlier. Now "done with men", Joan told Albie to watch his back before the credits of ITV’s Joan began to roll.
In real life, Joan Hannington also turned her back on her former career as an expert jewel thief after the death of Boisie, but the sequence of events shown in ITV’s Joan was quite different. The real Joan never went to prison for the thefts and Boisie died in 1990, but not during a heist as we saw in the drama. Instead, The Sun reports that Boisie Hannington passed away after allegedly setting fire to a warehouse as part of supposed insurance fraud. Joan described the death of her husband as the "lowest point" in her life and she decided to go straight afterwards.
Will there be Joan season 2?
ITV’s Joan is a miniseries consisting of six episodes and as of now, there’s been no announcement about it being renewed for a Joan season 2. The Joan ending left things on an optimistic note for Joan, with her resolving to turn her back on "cons" and building an empire. It’s perhaps unlikely that there will be a Joan season 2, as to focus on her life after she had walked away from her jewel thief career might be seen as an invasion of Joan’s privacy. The drama set out to tell the story of her early life and how she came to be a jewel thief - and the Joan ending rounded things off so well by showing her preparing to forge her own path away from crime.
According to RadioTimes, Joan’s producer Ruth Kenley-Letts previously expressed how much she’d wanted the real Joan Hannington to be "happy" with the scripts.
"I really wanted Joan to be happy with the scripts we wrote. I always have felt a huge responsibility to make sure that we sort of stay true to her story," she explained at a press conference. It was really important to me personally that she was happy with the work we did."
Ruth reportedly added, "For me, I think if you’re doing someone’s story, it's their story. I would be devastated if, at the end of it, Joan didn't feel we had been true to her memoir."
When she retired from stealing jewels, Joan sold Boisie’s antique shops and started afresh. According to The Standard, Joan Hannington once told the Scottish Daily Record that even before this, after welcoming her son Benny in 1987, she began to rethink her former career.
"When I was 30, Benny Jnr was born, and the thrill of my illegal life began to wane. I did not want my son to travel down the same criminal path," she reportedly shared.
The publication claims that after selling the antiques shops Joan embarked on a career renovating houses. Now she’s understood to now live on the coast with her dogs and after delving into the most intense, emotional and shocking periods of her life in season 1, it might make sense for ITV’s Joan to just leave her story there.
All episodes of Joan are available to watch now on ITVX and the series is also airing on Sundays and Mondays at 9pm on ITV1.
