Ultimately, it will come down to just how many people watched No Gain No Love when it comes to whether the series gets a Season 2.
In recent years, K-dramas like No Gain No Love on Amazon Prime Video have become a key pillar in the streamer's content strategy.
Imports like Marry My Husband (which is also awaiting a Season 2 announcement) have found massive popularity on the service. That is why when No Gain No Love came to the platform on August 26, fans were itching to see if Prime Video could replicate the success of its other K-drama hits.
How Likely Is No Gain No Love Season 2?
With No Gain No Love having ended its 12-episode first season on Amazon Prime Video stateside, heads now turn to the potential for a Season 2 release somewhere down the line.
Did it Do Numbers?
As is the case with almost all streaming series, whether a second season gets greenlit or not will ultimately fall on the shoulders of just how many people watched the show as it was released and what sort of left has it had in the time since.
In No Gain No Love's case, the series has made a fairly good case for any potential follow-up.
Having first debuted back on August 26, the show has released two episodes a week since then, running all the way up to Tuesday, October 1.
Shortly after arriving on Prime Video, the series broke into the platform's U.S. top 10, debuting in the eighth position.
It would go on to peak at #4 during its first six episodes and stay in the top 10 consistently up to September 15.
The show would then pop back into the top 10 rankings with the release of Episodes 7 and 8 before trailing off in the days following. It would see similar spikes with each new release with the Season 1 finale peaking at #2 (the high water mark for the show to this point).
Since the release of Season 1's finale, No Gain No Love has continued to stay in the top 10 in many territories for Amazon Prime Video, even sitting in the #1 spot in a few of them.
Given these numbers alone, No Gain No Love has as good a case as any to get a Season 2.
The series has shown it can capture an audience not just in the U.S. but around the world, so if those involved want to for any sort of follow-up, it seems as though viewers will be there. However, it may be more complicated than that.
The K-Drama Season 2 Problem
K-dramas work differently than many series stateside, with second seasons being fairly uncommon across the genre. Typically, K-dramas wrap their stories up quite neatly in a set amount of episodes in their first season. That can leave little (to no) room for any sort of continuation.
However, it is not as though more stories could not be figured out for a potential No Gain No Love Season 2.
Some K-dramas run into the problem of running out of narrative runway as many are based on existing source material.
Because many K-dramas are based on hit webtoons, manga, or novels, sometimes they are one-and-done on TV as the show tells the whole tale it is based on in its set amount of Season 1 episodes.
No Gain No Love does not have this problem, as it is an entirely original story. That is not to say a second season is guaranteed because of this, it just could play into the case being made for a potential Season 2.
More No Gain No Love Outside Of a Season 2
Those looking for more from the No Gain No Love world will not have to look far, even though a second season remains unannounced.
A spin-off of the hit K-drama has already been announced, with episodes set to stream on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. as well.
The series is titled Spice Up Our Love and will start streaming on Thursday, October 3 on the platform.
While it is not a Season 2 proper, it will allow audiences to jump back into the franchise almost immediately following the end of No Gain No Love proper.
Spice Up Your Love follows a young R-rated web novel author who unsuspectingly finds herself as the subject of an online web novel herself.
The show's two lead characters, played by Lee Sang-yi and Han Ji-hyeon, are entirely original creations for the series without any precedence in No Gain No Love. However, the same rom-com energy from the mainline series will be present (per Forbes).
No Gain No Love is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
