“Extant” is coming up with a second season, and it looks like there will be some changes in the way the show looks and its overall style. The first season was quite successful and we didn’t really see any need to change things significantly, but the show’s producers might have a different idea and they are likely looking to bring the production closer to their plans.
On one hand, the cast of the show will be changed quite a bit, and some of the old members have left. Indeed, we’re only going to see three of the original seven full-time cast members in season 2, including Halle Berry as Molly Woods and Pierce Gagnon as Ethan, her robotic son. Grace Gummer is still there too, in the role of Julie Gelineau, a partially robotic scientist.
The male lead from the first season, Goran Visnjic, has been replaced – instead of him, we’re going to see Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the screen, and it looks like the changes aren’t simply cosmetic, as the show’s producers have dropped entire subplots. It looks like they’re trying to drive it in a different direction altogether as well, as they’re looking to give the show a more action-themed style instead of the slower-paced storytelling that we got until now.
Fans have been speculating about the reasons behind these changes, and realistically they could have been motivated by many factors. In the end though, it’s obvious that the first season could have seen better reception and ratings than it did, and its performance might have been the main motivating factor.
The producers are yet to discuss those changes in detail, but if they were indeed driven by a desire for better ratings, they probably aren’t going to address that directly in their talks. Of course, if the show does pick up during its second season and sees a rise in popularity, then we might get a bit more detailed explanation about why the producers decided to go with these specific changes.
The only thing we’ve heard from them so far is that they’re apparently hoping to attract a larger audience, which could lend further credibility to what we described above. It’s true that the first season of “Extant” was a bit of a niche show and wasn’t that attractive to everyone, but we don’t know how much the show can be changed to make it more interesting to a larger audience before moving away from its core ideas.
Molly has gone rogue in the new season too, apparently, and she will play an important role in determining the fate of the human race. The character will likely see some interesting developments in the new season, and it looks like the plot will actually revolve around her to a large extent.
In the last season, we saw her as an astronaut, a scientist and a mother, but this time she will be much more action-focused and we’ll see her more active, lively and cunning on the screen. Hopefully, these changes will not affect the likeability of her character in any negative way, as fans have gotten used to the old style of portraying her to some extent.
But then again, as we said above, this season of the show is going to introduce some rather serious changes to its structure, so it’s not that surprising that the producers are playing with different ideas for Molly. It’s possible that her new identity will actually turn out to be more likeable and will attract more discussions among fans, which would certainly benefit the show in the long run.