After The Conclusion Of DTF St. Louis, I Really Need A Spinoff

I’ve been pretty clear about my feelings about DTF St. Louis, which just wrapped up with its finale as part of the 2026 TV schedule. I think the show was really well constructed and acted, but the way it treated my hometown was, to say the least, disappointing. In the end, it turns out that maybe my favorite single scene was the last between the two detectives, Donoghue Homer (Richard Jenkins) and Jodie Plumb (Joy Sunday). I enjoyed the scene so much that it immediately had me wishing for a spinoff following those two as buddy detectives.

There are very minor spoilers ahead, so if you want to watch the end of the DTF St. Louis before reading, log in with your HBO Max subscription and check it out.

The Two Detectives Couldn’t Be More Different

Homer, an old school kind of detective in every way, bumbles his way through the case, not because he is incompetent, but because he just doesn’t understand the modern…let’s call it… dating scene. He doesn’t understand the bedroom kinks that are so common today, and he really doesn’t understand people being so publicly open about their bedroom proclivities. He’s old-fashioned in every way, but that’s not a bad thing. He’s honest and open about that, at least.

Plumb, on the other hand, really understands what’s going on behind closed doors in the neighbor’s house. In the very first episode of the show, she opens up about being “porn positive” in her sex life with her husband. She can comfortably talk about the kinds of kinks that the three main characters play out over the season, and isn’t shocked by anything people do in bed. This contrast with Homer is evident throughout the show, but it is at its funniest in the excellent finale, as Homer tries to understand things like “BBC,” “SPH,” and nut kicking. Tell me you don’t want to see more interactions like this in a spinoff?

DTF St. Louis Season 2 Likely Won’t Happen, But Let’s Manifest This Spinoff

The creator and showrunner of DTF St. Louis, Steven Conrad, has indicated that the show was always meant to be a limited series, and it’s easy to understand why. There isn’t really anywhere to go here. The show went to some dark places and completed the story brilliantly, turning the whole genre on its head. Sure, maybe it could be turned into an anthology series in the vein of another great HBO show, The White Lotus, but that, too, seems unlikely, even if DTF Detroit or DTF Toledo could be a lot of fun.

However, there’s nothing to say Conrad can’t keep the world alive in a spinoff. Think, Law & Order: SVU, but with the dark humor of DTF St. Louis. It might be a little much, but it just might be exactly the right amount of dark and funny. Frankly, as much as I dissed the show early on for failing to understand St. Louis, it worked out really well, and I want to see this bizarro version of my hometown more. Homer and Jodie would be perfect to explore that.