ByVal Hull
The Librarians: The Next Chapter is TNT’s latest attempt to revive their somewhat obscure yet very much beloved supernatural adventure franchise. Picking up seven years after the finale of The Librarians, The Next Chapter introduces a new team and a Librarian from beyond time itself.
When I was going through the original Librarian movies and the following show a couple months back, I mentioned a certain apprehension about The Next Chapter. In this day and age, I have very little faith in reboots and belated franchise continuations.
On paper, The Next Chapter was doomed to fail. The show’s stars can’t boast any impressive previous credits. Its IMDB score is hovering around 6/10, with reviews not exactly brimming with optimism. And even the older show’s secret weapon, frequent cameos from notable actors, is absent here. Several of the actors among The Next Chapter’s IMDB top cast don’t have headshots. One of the guest stars is the daughter of franchise creator Dean Devlin. Just about the only recognizable name there is everyone’s favorite second breakfast enthusiast, Dominic Monaghan. And even he only appears for a few frames in the season’s finale.
In short, I came into The Next Chapter expecting a disaster on the level of Stargate SG-1’s “younger, edgier” bit from the show’s “200” episode. Imagine my surprise when, as I watched it, I caught myself thinking, Hey, this is actually good. Now, let’s dig deeper and try to puzzle out why the show succeeds against all odds, and why you should watch it despite any potential reservations.
After following Flynn Carsen as our main Librarian throughout three movies and four seasons of the show, getting a new one can already feel jarring. Especially when our only connection to the earlier franchise installments is a brief appearance of Jake Stone (Christian Kane). We don’t get a cameo from Flynn or even Stone’s other fellow Librarians. And unlike Flynn, who remained a persistent presence in The Librarians, Stone only appears in the first episode and the season’s finale.
Despite that, The Next Chapter is undoubtedly a part of the same continuity. Throughout the first season, we get frequent callbacks to the events of the previous show, its characters, and adventures. This creates an atmosphere of familiarity to go along with an entirely new cast and location.
Our new Librarian is Vikram Chamberlain, who spent 200 years in a time bubble at the start of the show. When Stone releases him, Vikram unleashes a burst of magic and is then tasked with containing all the newly awakened artifacts. This happens in Belgrade, Serbia. Vikram’s Library Annex is located in a castle around those parts, and that’s where the show’s first season takes place and was filmed.
While seemingly an odd choice, it’s also a welcome one, proving that not every alien planet or mystical location needs to resemble a forest in the Pacific Northwest. It does seem strange how everyone in Eastern Europe speaks good English. But the show mostly explains it away by setting up most side characters as expats, tourist handlers, or international scholars.
Perhaps the most controversial decision of the entire season concerns Vikram’s team. As opposed to full-blown Librarians or Librarians in Training, he gets a pair of people off the street. And while one of them has a mysterious personal connection to Vikram, the other is just a guy. Without a formal invitation from the Library, the two join Vikram, his new Guardian, and the Caretaker of his Annex in retrieving the newly awakened artifacts.
I can’t honestly find a good reason for such a retcon and bending of the established lore. In a universe where the mere existence of multiple Librarians was once supposed to lead to a global catastrophe, accepting random people into the fold simply makes no sense. This is something you’ll have to get over if you want to enjoy The Next Chapter.
The show’s first season follows the successful structure of an overarching plot threaded through a series of “artifact of the week” episodes. The big plot revolves around Vikram’s gradual coming to terms with him being a man out of time and learning to let go while his arch-enemy from the past is plotting his big return.
No one among the main cast is what you would call household names, but that doesn’t stop them from slotting into their roles well and creating a very enjoyable team dynamic. In my previous article covering the franchise, I noted earnestness as one of the key qualities that makes it so enjoyable. That same earnest quality is present here. All the characters, even with their flaws, are easy to like and root for.
The individual episodes also deserve a mention. They greatly benefit from having an established formula to pull from, but also the freshness of the first season. Above all else they feel fun and creative. Any particular episode rarely follows a single tired template, and instead gets more inventive with its premises. Like how the ghost train episode is also a time loop episode. Or how the memory loss hangover episode plays around with different visual styles and combines sections of film noir, a James Bond parody, and a take on rom-coms.
That episode reminded me a lot of the classic episode of Moonlighting – The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice. And a section of another episode, one dedicated to an extended bit of wordplay about “the resin in the rosin” and “which witch is which” felt like an almost direct homage to another famous Moonlighting gag about a man with a mole on his nose. Dean Devlin is on record as aware of Moonlighting (and which TV producer isn’t). As such I wouldn’t be surprised if these were intentional parallels.
A big source of the show’s creativity can be attributed to the fact that The Next Chapter is using a local Serbian crew for its production. Thanks to that, we’re treated to a lot of location shots, beautiful backgrounds, and detailed physical sets. Everything is lively, colorful and vibrant. If you’re sick of modern streaming shows with their washed out, color-corrected, and overly digital visuals, then watching The Next Chapter will feel like a breath of fresh air. Going back to the nearly forgotten art of shooting real shows does come with growing pains. Especially in the early episodes, there are some questionable editing decisions, ill-fitting shots, and disappearing props. But it doesn’t take long for the production quality to find its footing, so that’s not a huge issue.
A bigger one lies with the writing of the central episode mysteries. While individual scenes and character chemistry are always top notch, the main plots often suffer from being blindingly obvious to the viewers. Meanwhile the characters treat them as a tough challenge. Like in the witch episode, where the most likely suspect – an imperious and prickly older woman – gets the least amount of scrutiny, and her sudden yet inevitable betrayal comes as a shock to our heroes.
While not ideal, these shortcomings don’t come close to the missteps of the later seasons of the previous show. So even at its worst, The Next Chapter stands above The Librarians seasons 3 and 4. And at its best, it’s right there with the previous show’s second season. As a cherry on top, The Next Chapter has a fantastic choreographer, which leads to quite a few visually impressive dance numbers. It thankfully never goes into the realm of musicals, and is content to impress us with well-orchestrated movement at the right moments.
In shows like this, group chemistry is what separates forgettable duds from rewatchable gems. So, let’s take a closer look at the heroes of The Next Chapter.
Vikram, portrayed by Callum McGowan, is a Librarian from the 19th century. Being a man out of time is the central part of his character. As a Librarian, he’s smarter than your average guy so he manages to grasp the basics of 21st century living pretty fast. He still stumbles over some things, like idioms, historical events, or technological advancements. This is a great source of comedy for the character, like his reaction to seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time and treating it as an eyesore.
Outside of that, he’s an exciting combination of decisive, arrogant, and curious. He’s convinced he’s always right, because he usually is. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty and prefers to work alone. Vikram’s learning to work with others, even while he keeps his cards close to the chest, is an enjoyable season-long arc.
He also never abandons his sense of style and his cane, which adds extra points to his coolness factor. His cavalier approach to using magic sets him apart from his predecessors. If you remember season 4 of The Librarians, Vikram is essentially Darrington Dare. I’m assuming the only reason he’s a unique character is continuity. We already know some things about Darrington, his arch-enemy, and the fact he didn’t live in Belgrade. Outside of that, Vikram is the same kind of easy-going swashbuckler, which makes him a great protagonist.
At the risk of stating the obvious, Jessica Green who portrays Charlie is distractingly, jaw-droppingly gorgeous. However, proving that there is balance in the world, her acting abilities seem to be inversely proportional to her beauty. Especially early on, her acting is one of the show’s biggest detractors.
Thankfully, she gradually gets better as the season progresses and eventually finds her footing. And as a testament to the show’s irreverent and playful nature, this issue gets addressed in-universe during an extended scene where the other characters are poking fun at Charlie’s “Resting Bitch Face.”
Outside of the technical aspects of acting, the character’s arc of self-doubt and searching for a second chance is both relatable and well realized. Charlie, being a Guardian on probation, fits in well with a rogue Librarian and a pair of civilians.
Lysa is the scientifically minded member of the group who always tries to rationalize things. In The X-Files she’d be Scully. Olivia Morris even bears a certain resemblance to Gillian Anderson. This personality quirk is quite baffling. Because while The X-Files kept their supernatural elements few and far between, and usually left enough ambiguity for there to be doubt, this isn’t the case in The Librarians.
Even presented with undeniable proof of magic, Lysa insists on coming up with rational explanations and tries to deny the evidence of her own eyes. This can get exasperating, but thankfully, this aspect of the character gets toned down and switched to a desire to understand magic through cutting-edge technology. And that fits much better with this show’s mythology.
On top of that, Lysa has a personal connection to the castle housing Vikram’s Annex and is tied to the first season’s big overarching plot. Her bickering with Connor, the other civilian in the group, is a source of constant amusement. They have great chemistry and are fun to watch together.
Played by Bluey Robinson, Connor is the Mulder to Lysa’s Scully. He’s a full-on believer. Seeing the Library and its wonders is a constant source of joy for him. This makes him perhaps the most relatable character in the team.
In a somewhat unexpected twist for a modern show, Connor is a famous member of the conspiracy theorist community. Despite that, he’s not portrayed as a bumbling buffoon or comic relief. His knowledge of myths and legends is rivaled only by the Librarian himself.
And in the episode dedicated to Connor’s past, where we get a taste of the greater conspiracy community, its members are also presented in a positive light. We do get our Alex Jones stand-in to depict a cynical, profit-driven theorist, but other than him, we mostly meet curious and inquisitive people there. This twist is very much refreshing and welcome.
The Next Chapter’s resident immortal Caretaker is Elaine Astolat, portrayed by Caroline Loncq. Much like Jenkins, she also has her ties to Camelot that get explored during the season. And her many hobbies and day-to-day antics are both amusing and fun.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t get enough screen time to become as memorable as the previous Caretakers. Maybe this is something that will be remedied in the second season. Because what little of Mrs. Astolat we got in season 1 was great.
Before I started watching The Next Chapter, I was certain I’ll turn it off halfway through the first episode, confirming that the franchise ended in 2018. Several episodes in, I was starting to enjoy it. And by the time I finished the season, I loved it. Now I can’t wait for the next season, recently revealed to premiere on August 2, 2026. And hopefully, the show gets picked up for more seasons after that. Because I seriously can’t believe this show was made in 2025. It feels like something straight out of 2008 or thereabout. A real oasis for someone who was about to give up on the whole medium.
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