Last month, the cast and creators of USA’s Colony took a break from filming its second season and headed down head down to San Diego’s Comic-Con. The show is setLos Angeles has been invaded and occupied by outside forces. The story is centered on a family
Amanda Righetti, Adrian Pasdar, Peter Jacobson, Tory Kittles and creators Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condal talked about what to expect from the upcoming season, their characters and tweeting with the fans.
What can you say about of the upcoming season?
Carlton Cuse: There are a lot of mysteries. I think one of the things we felt like we might not have done enough of in season one was explain the world. So, there’s definitely going to be a lot more explaining of the world in season two and it’s just a darker, more dystopic world by intention. That some people thought, “Well, this world doesn’t seem too bad,” it was intentionally not meant to be a traditional dystopic world in season one.
Can we expect more aliens this season?
Ryan Condal: There’s definitely gonna be a lot more sci-fi this season, in general. That goes with both spectacle and, you know, the thinking man’s sci-fi. What this world is, why they came here, what they need. We’re really going to expand out the world. The first season happened inside the Los Angeles block and we’re gonna see outside of that world.
Are we going to see any new characters?
Ryan Condal: Yeah, there’s new characters that we’re introducing this year that we’re really excited about. A bunch are introduce right away in the occupation structure and it’s part of what we were talking about, the world is becoming more oppressive and dark. And to add to that, they need to bring in people that are willing to dole out that leadership both on the law enforcement side and the government side. So you’re going to see people who fit much more into the Nazi allegory or the Soviet allegory that are eager to keep the people oppressed, keep the rule of law in the block.
Carlton Cuse: Everything feels kind of ramped up this season in a really good way. We’re in the middle of shooting the first couple of episodes right now and it’s feeling really good.
What’s going on with Katie and Will this season? Will they be able to trust each other?
Josh Holloway: It’s a journey. They have work to do. Sometimes in a relationship you have to put things on ice and deal with your children. So, I think there is a lot of parenting that is at the forefront of our focus and our relationship is in the background, so we’ve got a lot of work to do. And we’ve got other tragedies to deal with, we’ll solve some problems and we’ll hit other ones, so it’s gonna be a journey back to each other. But they started with true love and I think they’ll fight for that.
Sarah Wayne Callies: Because It’s an ideological journey as well as emotional one, right? These are people who ended on opposite sides of, arguably, the most important event of their lives and they ended up on opposite sides out of love. Will gets caught and has to collaborate because he has to unite his family. Katie joins the resistance and has to keep it from her husband to make sure that if he’s ever questioned about it, he can deny it and be honest about it. You know The Gift of the Magi? It’s that old story about people who sell the only thing they have and buy their loved one a gift, but then it’s useless. These are two people who have ruined their marriage trying to teach keep each other safe and the question is how do you repair that trust? We haven’t read that part of the season but I think if Will and Katie actually do come back together, they have an incredibly powerful skill set and reach and I think they can do some real damage together. We just had to start speaking again first.
What is going on with your characters this season?
Adrian Pasdar: I think the two of us go through a dynamic tightening of the screws this season. The interest that we have in each other gets, I think, nourished and complicated at the same time by the people that are around us. And the show gets a lot more sci-fi coming up this year, which I think we can all agree is a cool thing. More outer space stuff, what’s in outer space, what the aliens look like.
Amanda Righetti: For Maddie, she’s really solidified her position in the Green Zone and aligned herself with Nolan and really supporting him and getting behind his vision and trying to get the train on the tracks so to speak. The tables have turned between her and Katie, Maddie is now much more in a power position.
Before the season starts how much do you guys know what’s gonna happen to your character?
Amanda Righetti: Very little.
Adrian Pasdar: Yeah, they talk about the game plan a little bit so you can ask questions, but so many people have to agree and it goes through so many different rewrites that they’re very unwilling to part with a lot of information because it may change, and it may become of no value. The truth is, Ryan said it best, and you’re driving from New Jersey to California. You know you want to get to California but you don’t know how you get there. One road may be blocked, maybe a snowstorm. They don’t know how that they’re gonna quite get there, but they’re gonna get there. And I know they have an endpoint. I do know that and I can’t say anymore.
How exciting is it for you to see what the alien’s looks like?
Tory Kittles: You know, we sort of get a real-time experience because we’re live tweeting with the audience. So, we get to experience what we did when we’re shooting it and we get to experience everyone’s reaction, which is kind of cool. And Peter talks a lot of smack on twitter so there’s that going on too. So, it’s fun to see it. It’s fun to see the response.
Peter Jacobson: And yet the actual experience, I didn’t see the alien in the train station but I’ve had moments… It’s such a technical experience shooting it.
Tory Kittles: I was there and Ryan was so excited about the alien. Like, “Finally! Finally, we get to see the alien!” And he was so excited and we all turned into kids. It was great.
Of all the cast, you two have the most polarized reaction from the fans. They either love you or hate you.
Peter Jacobson: Yeah, I think Broussard and Snyder are really two opposite ends of the spectrum. One is the ultimate collaborator and one is the ultimate resistor. That was one of the great parts of the season. You got Broussard here and Snyder here and the family in the middle and that was great fun for me. And to watch Broussard sort of Lord through the first season. I’ve been weakened in season two and the resistance has been weakened but we’re both going to see these two characters in their own polar opposite ways try to, now, find a way back to the kind of extreme strength they had last season. That’s good writing.
