Cameras are officially rolling on the second season of CBC’s cop drama Pretty Hard Cases, following last week’s CBC upfront presentation announcement that the show had been renewed.

The expanded second season consists of 12 episodes, an increase from the initial 10-episode offering that debuted earlier this year. Joining returning leads Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore are new series regulars Sonja Smits (American Gods), K.C. Collins (Clarice), and Ben Bass (Rookie Blue). The casting reunites Bass with show co-creators and former Rookie Blue EPs Tassie Cameron and Sherry White.

Season one regulars Karen Robinson, Al Mukadam, Percy Hynes White, Katie Douglas and Daren A. Herbert also return.

“We are thrilled to be back on set with our incredible cast, making twelve new episodes of this show we all love so much. Getting to tell high-stakes crime stories with a sense of humour is such a pleasure, especially during these complicated times,” Cameron and White said in a release.

“When we first commissioned Pretty Hard Cases in 2019, we didn’t know how perfectly it would end up reflecting the times we now find ourselves in,” added Sally Catto, general manager, entertainment, factual and sports, CBC. “Tassie, Sherry, Amy [Cameron, EP] and the show’s wonderful cast led by Meredith and Adrienne have brilliantly reimagined the police procedural while offering a witty and refreshingly authentic perspective on female friendship.”

The second season of Pretty Hard Cases picks up with detectives Sam Wazowski (MacNeill) and Kelly Duff (Moore) as official partners for the first time. The series continues to delve into the personal and professional lives of the forty-something women, as Sam becomes an empty nester with a new love life, and Kelly reconnects with her estranged sisters. But when they go up against a new gang that doesn’t play by the old rules, they’ll put everything on the line in order to take these dangerous criminals down.

Joining Cameron and White in the writers room are returning first-season scribes Keavy Lynch and Carina Samuels, as well as Jillian Locke (Workin’ Moms), Chris Roberts (Orphan Black) and Seneca Aaron (Coroner).

The series has also tapped an impressive crew of directors, including Orphan Black co-creator John Fawcett, Canadian Screen Award winner Gail Harvey, Jordan Canning, Samir Rehem, Mars Horodyski, Cory Bowles, Grant Harvey, Madison Thomas, Weyni Mengesha, John Stead, and Winnifred Jong. White also steps behind the camera to direct the season’s second episode.

Pretty Hard Cases is produced by Cameron Pictures in association with CBC and NBCUniversal International Studios. The first season debuted in February 2021 on CBC and CBC Gem to critical acclaim. Season two is expected to debut in winter 2022.