The Case for a “Rowdy 3” Spinoff from “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency” (And no, I’m not writing this just to impress my girlfriend)*
As the fandom for BBC America/Netflix’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (DGHDA) continues to find ways to transmute our collective grief at the show’s cancellation into a multitude of creative actions towards renewal, many of us have been bouncing ideas around.
Frankly, any concluding DGHDA project is going to happen or not happen due to forces outside of fan control. All we can do is help The Powers That Be build their case that DGHDA will have a big enough fan base to deliver the desired ratings to any network that says “yes”. I’ve had some push-back here and there on social media on my previous posts as to how feasible some of my notions are because of the practicalities involved, but the practicalities, the “hows”, are not up to us.
That means we fans are free to dream, and dream we must (but in a beautiful, inspiring way, not a bad, scary one).
In any case, feasibility shouldn’t be used as a governor of idea generation. That’s not how brainstorming works. You take the time to spill everything out on the ground first, make a mess of ideas, and then sort them out afterwards into something that works.
Speaking of spilling everything out and making messes….let’s talk about a Rowdy 3 spinoff.
Three Questions, One Answer
Season 2 ended with Amanda, Martin, Gripps, Cross, Vogel, and Beast heading off to follow the stream of creation towards the big “war” that will tear at the edges of reality in the world.
There are a few questions — three, to be exact — that we were left with in that conclusion.
Q1: How will Amanda stop the big war?
We knew that her pararibulitis worked differently in Wendimoor, but wouldn’t her condition go back to being the same debilitating disorder that it was in Season One now that she’s back in our universe?
Then again, she has the Apprentice’s Wand, one of a few “loose ends” that carried over from the Boy’s pocket universe in Bergsberg. How this changes the game remains to be seen.
Q2: What’s the big problem that the Rainbow Beast will connect to?
Dirk and Todd already hinted that the Wendimoor refugee will eventually connect to something that will become a big problem”. With her surprisingly-effective hippie girl disguise that allows her to blend into our world, her “legendary” cardio, and her apparent penchant for collecting traffic cones, there’s no doubt Beast fits in perfectly with the Rowdy 3. Where that leads them, again, who knows?
Q3: WHO ARE THOSE GUYS???
We know the Rowdy 3 were classified as “Project Incubus” by Blackwing, and that they were controllable until Vogel joined them and helped them reach some kind of critical mass where Blackwing couldn’t contain them any longer. We know they’re psychic vampires who feed off of neurological energy. We know that Gripps and Cross have a unique vocabulary.
But, like just about every other Blackwing subject, we have no idea of where they came from or where they were before Blackwing captured them.
Three questions, then. And the one answer? Well, obviously…
A Rowdy 3 mini-series or spinoff would not only give us answers to those questions, but help expand the DGHDA fandom as well as provide a bridge of sorts between the end of Season 2 and any subsequent season or concluding mini-series that happens in the future. Alternatively, it could do for the DGHDA universe what Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. does for the MCU: a parallel, largely independent storyline that weaves in and out of the main universe.
Plus, it would simply be a delight to see Hannah Marks, Michael Eklund, Osric Chau, Zak Santiago, Viv Leacock, and Emily Tennant in this universe again. Hell, if I had a ca-jillion dollars, I’d fund the spinoff just for that!
And if the DGHDA showrunners can’t do it themselves, they could possibly allow fans do most of the heavy-lifting in terms of crowdfunding, writing, hell, even on-screen talent as extras or supporting characters (wouldn’t it be amazing to have fan-actors, already working in the industry, to be a part of a project like this?)
Finally, a Rowdy 3 spinoff would add to the already growing (and punchy) Dirk Gently fandom and help The Powers That Be build their case for a third season to the main story, which is, of course, the Ultimate Traffic Cone that we all want.
Jody Aberdeen is a writer from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and a Bobo Fool.
*And, okay, maybe he wrote this to impress his girlfriend, but there are plenty other reasons, too!
