HBO's THE DUECE Moves Forward With Season 2 Amid James Franco Allegations

According to Deadline, HBO's THE DUECE is starting production on its second season with James Franco in tow amid allegations of sexual harassment from multiple women. Franco, who recently won the Golden Globe for his role in THE DISASTER ARTIST, has denied the allegations. Read more about it from Deadline here!

Following early critical raves, HBO has renewed the drama series THE DEUCE for a second season last fall, it was announced today by Casey Bloys, president, HBO Programming. The series was created by George Pelecanos and David Simon, who previously collaborated on the HBO series "The Wire" and "Treme." It is executive produced by George Pelecanos, David Simon, Nina Kostroff Noble and James Franco; the pilot was executive produced by Michelle MacLaren, who also directed the pilot and final episode of the first season.

The show chronicles the rise of the porn culture in New York from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world of the sex trade from the moment when both a liberalizing cultural revolution in American sexuality and new legal definitions of obscenity created a billion-dollar industry that is now an elemental component of the American cultural landscape. It follows a cast of barkeeps, prostitutes, pimps, police and nightlife denizens as they swirl through a world of sex, crime, high times and violence, and the porn business begins its climb from Mafia-backed massage parlors and film labs to legitimacy and cultural permanence.

Among the early critical raves, the New Yorker hailed the series as "a clear-eyed portrait of a lost universe of Manhattan decadence, neither sentimental and glamorizing nor disapproving and didactic," while the New York Times called THE DEUCE "relentlessly interesting" and THE WALL Street Journal described it as a "smashing work all around." Entertainment Weekly praised the show as "an absorbing, resonant chronicle," and TIME said it is "a triumph, and, better yet, a pleasure."

Season one credits: THE DEUCE was created by George Pelecanos and David Simon; executive producers, George Pelecanos, David Simon, Nina Kostroff Noble, James Franco; co-executive producer,