Briefly: Finally!

just finished the first season of FOX’s Wayward Pines last week (and loved every second of it), and I’ve been eagerly awaiting news of the upcoming second season ever since.

Last week we saw the first teaser poster for the upcoming episodes, and today FOX has debuted an awesome first teaser trailer. Yep, it’s full of mystery and doesn’t explain much of anything, but it shows off new and returning cast, and reminds us that this season is set to be all about some new residents.

The 10-episode psychological thriller picks up after the shocking events of the season 1 finale, with the residents of Wayward Pines battling against the iron-fisted rule of the First Generation. Dr. Theo Yedlin (Jason Patric) — a new resident of Wayward Pines — awakens from suspended animation and finds himself in the middle of this rebellion, as he tries to understand what Wayward Pines really is and help preserve the endangered human race. CJ Mitchum (Djimon Hounsou), an original resident of Wayward Pines and a historian for the town with extensive knowledge of its complex origins, is the only one who can provide a unique bridge between the current world of Wayward Pines and the previous world that humans inhabited. Megan Fisher (Hope Davis), is in charge of the scientific research being conducted on the Abbies, and remains deeply involved in the development of the hearts and minds of the future of humanity — Wayward Pines’ “First Generation”.

Take a look at the teaser below, and be sure to let us know what you think! Wayward Pines returns on May 25th!

https://youtu.be/fvnu2PBiL3k

Briefly: Yesterday evening, my fiancé and I decided to drive around the dilapidated grounds of Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, BC.

Many of the buildings in the area look as though they are straight out of a horror film, and interestingly enough, most of the less deathly structures are now used as sets in Vancouver’s booming film and television industry.

After driving by both Wayward Pines Academy and Wayward Pines Hospital, last night we decided to give the series a shot, and five episodes later it’s pretty clear that we’ve instantly fallen in love with it.

Like what the hell is happening in this town!?

Today, Fox debuted a new poster for the upcoming second season, which teases the feral creatures that I’ve only just met (no spoilers please). Take a look at the poster below, and be sure to let us know if you’ll be watching when Wayward Pines returns on May 25th!

Pines

Starring Jason Patric (“Rush,” “Narc”), two-time Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou (“Blood Diamond,” “In America”) and Emmy Award and Golden Globe nominee Hope Davis (“American Crime,” “The Newsroom”), the 10-episode, second season will pick up after the shocking events of Season One, with the residents of Wayward Pines battling against the iron-fisted rule of the First Generation. Dr. THEO YEDLIN (Patric) – a new resident of Wayward Pines – awakens from suspended animation and finds himself in the middle of this rebellion, as he tries to understand what Wayward Pines really is and help preserve the endangered human race.

 

Also joining the second season are cast members Tom Stevens (“Cedar Cove”), returning from Season One as JASON HIGGINS, a member of the First Generation and Pilcher’s young acolyte; Nimrat Kaur (“Homeland”) as REBECCA, who has her own secrets she keeps from Theo, her husband; Josh Helman (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “X-Men: Days of Future Past”) as XANDER, a resident working to undermine Wayward Pines from within; and Kacey Rohl (“Hannibal”) as KERRY, one of Jason’s lieutenants in the civil war going on in Wayward Pines.

 

Additionally, several Season One cast members will appear in Season Two, including Terrence Howard (SHERIFF ARNOLD POPE), Carla Gugino (KATE HEWSON), Toby Jones (DR. JENKINS/DAVID PILCHER), Melissa Leo (NURSE PAM), Tim Griffin (ADAM HASSLER), Shannyn Sossamon (THERESA BURKE) and Charlie Tahan (BEN BURKE).

These days it’s not at all uncommon to be a little gun-shy when a new show debuts. Will it deliver? Will the network stick with it as it builds an audience or pull the rug out from under the early adopters? Will it feature often overlooked ice cream flavors? Well, I’m here to tell you, you have nothing to fear with Wayward Pines.

I’m going to attempt two things here. One is to encourage you to watch the season finale with me next Thursday on FOX at 9/8pm. The other is to tell you about the show without telling you about the show—trust me, it’s better that way and you’ll thank me for it later. (If you want spoilers, I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding them around online—but I think a lot of the magic lives in not fully knowing what you’re signing up for.)

I’d like you to imagine a love-fest between The Twilight ZoneThe X-Files, Lost, Twin PeaksThe Matrix and The Prisoner, where some of the best parts of their DNA are harvested and used to create what is easily the best sci-fi show on television right now—and it’s got Carla Gugino. Boom. Don’t believe me? Go ahead and look around and you’ll see that it’s getting solid scores from the critics (Rotten Tomatoes has it at 86% fresh, IMDB is at 8.2/10).

FOX tells it like this:

Based on a best-selling novel and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense), WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending 10-episode thriller starring Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (Crash) as a Secret Service agent on a mission to find two missing federal agents in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID. Every step closer to the truth makes him question if he will ever get out of Wayward Pines alive.

It’s not often the case where a new show will deliver on its promises and then continue to get even better week after week, as is the case here. I feel confident the season finale won’t be letting us down—I anticipate it’ll leave us satisfied and hungry for more at the same time. I’ll spoil one thing and that is this; there are rules to living in Wayward Pines.

1. Enjoy your life in Wayward Pines
2. Be happy
3. Work hard
4. Always answer the phone if it rings
5. Do not discuss the past
6. Do not discuss your life before
7. Do not try to leave

Unlike some other mystery shows of late, Wayward Pines never leaves you hanging for long. The mysteries are solved just as new ones are introduced—it makes for a very satisfying and engaging experience.

So I encourage you to catch up—watching the first 9 episodes on FOX.com is one easy way—and then join us fans in watching the season finale so that the network gets the number of eyeballs it’s looking for and brings the show back for another season.  That is, unless you’d rather just watch a lawyer/doctor/cop/fireman/politician struggling with a love/family/work triangle instead—’cause I think the networks always have a few hundred of those waiting in the wings.

If you’d like a little more background on the show, check out Geekscape’s original piece from the Wayward Pines‘ debut by Dennis Finocchiaro. If you’re just looking for a little visual tease, here’s a replay of FOX’s trailer:

https://youtu.be/QmFPf7I0Jlc

Remember this; there are no crickets in Wayward Pines.

This past weekend at Wizard World’s Philadelphia Comic Con, M. Night Shyamalan treated a small group to the exclusive sneak preview and chat about his new show, Wayward Pines.

WAYWARD PINES:  Based on a best-selling novel and brought to life by suspenseful storyteller M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense”), WAYWARD PINES is an intense, mind-bending 10-episode thriller starring Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“Crash”) as a Secret Service agent on a mission to find two missing federal agents in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, ID. Every step closer to the truth makes him question if he will ever get out of Wayward Pines alive.  WAYWARD PINES will join the schedule in 2015 on Fox.  Pictured L-R:  Juliette Lewis, Melisa Leo, Matt Dillon, Tim Griffin, Toby Jones, Terrence Howard, Shannyn Sossamon, Charlie Tahan, Reed Diamond and Carla Gugino. ©2014 Fox Broadcasting Co.  Cr:  Frank Ockenfels/FOX

Here are the reasons you should watch:

The show is a combination of Twin Peaks, Twilight Zone and Lost, opened with an amazing first episode, directed by Shyamalan. It is also inspired by David Lynch, to which Shyamalan added “Right now on my desk literally sitting on it is a copy of Blue Velvet by Lynch, to get some osmosis or genius out of it.”

The powerful cast includes Dillon, Terrence Howard, Carla Cugina, Juliette Lewis and Melissa Leo. “Matt was our first choice…and we sent him scripts and he was really excited to do it” Shyamalan added. After getting Dillon signed on, he decided to make it an “East Coast” kind of show and kept trying for actors with that in common.

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Wayward Pines had many twists and turns, even in the first episode, and of course ended with a shock. Every seven minutes or so, something would happen that was so surprising and interesting that the audience could not wait for the show to continue. Shyamalan also explained that there’s a significant reveal in every episode that makes it worth watching.

He also calls the show “inappropriately funny” at times. For instance, as the main character, played by Dillon, begs the sheriff (Howard) to come see the dead body he found, Howard listens while eating ice cream, and can’t stop talking about the taste of his rum raisin. Shyamalan added “Now every time we go somewhere for a press junket or something there’s always rum raisin ice cream waiting for me.”

Inside Information. Shyamalan treated the crowd to a nice Q&A afterwards as well, where he gave some interesting tidbits about the show. “He ate like ten ice cream cones and he didn’t stop at all during the takes. I was like ‘you can just pretend’ but that’s not Terrence…and it was actually rum raisin.”

Shyamalan also explained his move to television. “Over the last years, it [the movie business] has become much more about marketability, so the movies being made aren’t artist driven as much as they used to be and are no about marketing, which you can see with all of the pre-existing, pre-branded films. The first question they ask is about how they can market it, and the second question is about the writing…not that you can’t make original movies, there’s just a smaller window for us.”

He attributed the major changes to television to HBO. “The exact opposite is happening in television…then when HBO started, they said we’re not interested in eyeballs, we’re interested in resonance, so [with] Sopranos, they wanted people talking about Sopranos. A couple million people are watching it, but everyone’s talking about it, so they buy HBO. It’s not about eyeballs, it’s that you know it’s a quality product.” The other channels like AMC saw this and knew they wanted that resonance as well, and it spread.

Wayward Pines premieres this week, May 14th on Fox. It is also based on the books series by Blake Crouch available now on Amazon.

Trailer: