Beacon 23
Warning : mollycoddler for Beacon 23 season 2 !
Summary
MGM+ ’s epic sci - fi showBeacon 23is midway through season 2 , but the mysterious plot has plenty of steam left . Based on Hugh Howey ’s short fib , the series follow Aster Calyx ( Game of Thrones ' Lena Headey ) and Halan Kai Nelson ( Homecoming ’s Stephan James ) as they jaunt through tabu space on a lonely lighthouse . After overcoming their initial misgiving of each other , the two characters grew close until tragedy strike .
Things have changed drasticallyfollowingAster ’s decease inBeacon 23 ’s season 1 closing curtain , with Halan ’s story taking center phase and several new characters entering the beacon ’s domain . Glen Mazzara ( The Walking Dead ) and Joy Blake ( Ghost Whisperer ) call for over as cobalt - showrunners forBeason 23season 2 , and helped to further build out the world . Joining James , the ensemble cast admit Natasha Mumba as Harmony , Wade Bogert - O’Brien as Bartholomew , Eric Lange as Milan Aleph , and Ellen Wong as Iris .
The psyche - bending MGM+ sci - fi serial Beacon 23 retrovert for its 2d season in April 2024 , but time of year 3 has since been canceled .
Screen Rantinterviewed Mazzara about howBeacon 23shifted intentions over the track of two season , which case arcs will come into swordplay for the orgasm , and how much further he hop to explore the uniquespace setting of the series .
The Challenges Of Beacon 23 Season 2
Screen Rant : Given the unique setting ofBeacon 23 , what are some of the challenges of expanding the cosmos in the second season while preserve fans still engaged with the source cloth ?
Glen Mazzara : Well , the challenge was how to keep universe - building when our characters are so isolated from everyone else . We really require to play this as an outstation on the edge of the galaxy , so they ’re just getting scrap of information . Sometimes they get the wrong information . It plays as a beacon light , so we literally have people washing up on their shore once in a while . That ’s crucial .
What we ca n’t do that other sci - fi show can do is trend to the Emperor ’s court . you’re able to cut to another starship and get hold out what ’s conk out on in other shows , but we do n’t have that . It was a real challenge , and I feel like it add together to the horse sense of isolation from the original novel and from Zak Penn ’s original amour propre of the show . That ’s part of the DNA of Beacon 23 .
Custom image by Simone Ashmoore
Did you shoot time of year 2 back - to - back with season 1 ? If not , how did the fan reaction influence what you did in time of year 2 ?
Glen Mazzara : Great dubiousness . We did shoot them back - to - back , and I took over as a co - showrunner with a woman key out Joy Blake . The challenge was how to give season 2 its own shape and floor , so that it does n’t just feel like a serialized series . We wanted season 1 to have its own arc , and then for season 2 to have its own arc .
Fortunately , season 1 did a good deal of the heavy lifting of setting up the mythology , setting up the terms of what AI is in this cosmos , and what the dissimilar political entity are . It answer the question , " Who are our quality ? " Of course , we were able to push deeper into the lineament histories and sum some newfangled elements , but all roads lead back to Halan and Beacon 23 . I ’ll let in that there were a few hebdomad where we were trying to figure it out , but I cerebrate it come up together , and I ’m really well-chosen with it .
Based on Hugh Howey’s sci-fi thriller stories, Beacon 23 is a television adaptation created by Zak Penn. The show follows the plight of Aster and Halan, who find themselves trapped at the end of the universe in a “lighthouse.” Suspicion mounts between the two as Halan begins to wonder about Aster’s true intentions as they spend time together in isolation. The series was initially set to air on AMC until it was picked up by MGM+ in 2023.
The beacon itself is almost a fictitious character in the story , symbolize isolation , hope , and risk . How do you continue to develop it in time of year 2 ?
Glen Mazzara : I ’m excited to talk about this . There are some event in time of year 1 that change the type of the Beacon , so we want it to feel like a different billet . We wanted it to start to finger like a prison house — a keep or a lunatic ’s sign , if you will . We did n’t change the solidifying , but we changed the set dressing . you’re able to see it ’s in muddiness . There are more creaks and more groans . We wanted it to feel like a haunted house in a way , so we put a lot of effort into how it photographs and what it sounds like .
When time of year 1 set forth , it was very fresh and well - lighted . But as we go deeper into our grapheme and our news report gets dark , so does the beacon fire .
Breaking Down Beacon 23 Character Arcs
I want to talk about one of the primary characters at the eye microscope stage here , and that ’s Aleph . What can you tell us about Aleph and his upgrades ?
Glen Mazzara : Aleph is an AI that ’s base on his Maker ’s humanity . A lot of time we see AI and science fiction as this cold , disembodied , inhuman , sentient force trying to take control or enforce order . As mass , we ’re all fuck up , so we spend time in season 1 showing how screwed up Milan is . He has issues ; he ca n’t connect , he lack compassion , and he ’s a narcist .
All of that ’s ingrain into his type of AI , which is Aleph . AI is not an answer in our macrocosm ; it ’s just another complicated character with its own fault and character traits that makes misunderstanding . It ’s integrated a lilliputian bit otherwise than I ’ve see in other shows , and a set of that get along from Zak ’s original vision . We just build on his grounding .
This season , we dive deep into the AI facial expression of the show . What does that stand for for Harmony , and can you sing about her journeying this season ?
Glen Mazzara : Harmony ’s journey is central to the story that we ’re telling . And that came together in an interesting way because I do n’t know if that was always the suit .
I would say that we always knew we wanted to tell a fussy story , but Natasha Mumba who plays Harmony does such a fantastic job that we kept tip on her and kept start to her . She gives such a nuanced performance because she is playing an AI , but she found the humanity there . We wanted the 2nd sequence to really showcase her world and her journeying , and she just crushed it . So , we just kept going back to that well this season .
We had other characters following her from the AI world , so she just became very primal . And to have a mordant woman as the key to it all was interesting to us . unluckily , in a lot of these epic musical style show , you have white savior tropes . I do think Aleph prominence up against that — I imagine he thinks he ’s that — so we need to explore other avenue . That ’s a very important storyline to us .
We also meet Dev in season 2 . What can you tell us about Dev ?
Glen Mazzara : First of all , Dev was played by a fantastical actor who just bring so much . And that was a case that we originally only had a limited plot line for , but because the doer did such a fantastic caper , we brought them back and keep develop the tarradiddle . It was just a lot of merriment to write . As writers , we were activated about that eccentric , and asked , " What else can we give them ? "
I ’ll say that Dev plays an important part and adds a lot of mischief to the Beacon . Sometimes Halan and Harmony may or may not have too much of a common sense of humor . I think Dev a lot of fun and add a chaotic component , so it was just a delight to save .
Episode 2 was wondrous because it ’s so different from everything that we had seen before this show , and that ’s why Dev dead stands out . My other favorite episode enter us to a raw character who instantly became one of my favorites : B67 . What can you evidence me about her as a beacon keeper ?
Glen Mazzara : Ellen Wong ’s character , Iris , added so much because here was someone else who was coming into the story with no agenda . She ’s a hero who wants to do good , and she ’s amount into a very dysfunctional space but does n’t realize what she ’s getting into .
Ellen wager her with a sure amount of innocence , without being goofy or feeling like she ’s from a different show . She is just another element in our macrocosm . I thought Ellen did a fantastical job , and I was excited to ferment with her . I actually just was texting with her this morning . I would love to work with her again . I just think she ’s fantastic .
But her journeying when she comes to Beacon 23 is like a traveler on the route to Dracula ’s Castle . There ’s a gothic element , and she ’s Belle trapped on the road . I wo n’t say there ’s a romantic element like Beauty and the Beast , but she does n’t know what she ’s getting into . She does n’t know what story she ’s in . Ellen just played her with warmth and humanity , but also ferocity and temper . I imagine she really holds her own in the episodes .
Opening Up The World Of Beacon 23 In Season 2 & Exploring Aster’s Backstory
We ’re also put in to raw cultures this season , and the path that installment 5 ended left me shocked . What can you tell us about the Sabarians ?
Glen Mazzara : They ’re hardworking people . They are basically shipbreakers . What fall out to all these defunct space stations and space vehicle ? They would expose them up for parts . I think you would have hard citizenry who do that . They wear outrageous outfit because if they ’re on the exterior of a spacecraft transgress it apart , they would desire to easy be able-bodied to identify each other . Their costume are made to be identified at a distance . It also sort of plays as a atavism to Medieval refinement . We wish that . They would maybe not be capable to communicate with each other . They would have hand signals or whatever .
We really give a lot of thought to the culture . How do these hoi polloi communicate ? How have they make out together ? Our conductor , Ayo Chenzira , worked very firmly with the choreographer to acquire their hired hand systems and ways of communication . We paid a lot of attending to verify that that culture feel bona fide , not just a weird race of people our champion are encountering . We really want to give some thinking to how they come together .
I was very well-chosen with that . I was really glad with the actors that we cast for that , and I think they did a great job . They come in , they take it gravely . I ’m really excited about that episode .
Aster was not in the best of situations last season , to say the least . But we do get to research more about her this season . Can you talk to me about Aster ’s backstory inBeacon 23and her connection to the artefact ?
Glen Mazzara : Well , a lot of what we wanted to do was explore . We do imagine Aster ’s story is link up to the key story of the radio beacon , and we ask to envision that out . A mass of that is wrap up in Halan ’s story , and the way Lena bring sure things in scene with Stephan in season 1 made me wonder , " Why would Aster do that as opposed to this ? "
For example , there ’s a fit in the second episode where the beacon has been infiltrate by the pirates , and Halan pretends he ’s hitting her to throw them off the trail . But he ’s really in cahoot with her , right ? She pushes him off and state , " Get off of me ! " Why would she do that ? Why would she react so strongly ? We did n’t have any takes where she went along with that ; she really just did n’t buy it . So , I say , " Okay , there ’s a certain amount of trauma in this character . What is the nature of that psychic trauma ? "
Then I started thinking about it , so we pen this sequence that explain where her trauma is arrive from . All of a sudden I could understand that character more and why she would be so compassionate with Halan . What does she make out about soldier in this world and how they ’re overwork by the baron that be ? Perhaps they ’re yield untrue information or false memories . We had an episode that explored that to then look at what she thought about Halan when she adjoin him .
That was an interesting means to push into her character , to find fib that developed things we had seen and explained where we were going to go . It ’s installment 6 , I believe , which was an interesting one to run on . It ’s really there to explain case dubiousness that we as writers had , and I ’ve never done an installment like that before . I mean it works ; I think it held together .
You could turn off the tautness with the knife in that sequence , but it almost feels like athrowback toThe Twilight Zone . We had the doctor work on that beacon , and it felt like she did n’t do it if she could trust him or if she could trust the prisoner . We get this interesting morality play of Aster having to decide which one was which .
Glen Mazzara : Dude , you ’re a genius . When we talked about that episode , and looked at the last scene of that instalment , I said to the writers , " This is our version of The Twilight Zone . Five Characters in Search of an Exit . " There ’s four characters on stage , and there ’s an AI phonation . That ’s the 5th character . Those are Beacon 23 ’s five characters . That ’s just a Twilight Zone episode . I thought we hid it a footling moment respectable than that , but you found it , so give thanks you .
Halan sound through his own journeying this season as well , and there ’s some stuff that I found exceedingly interesting with his pa . Can you talk about that ?
Glen Mazzara : All of our characters have wounds . It may take you a short while to sympathise , but all of our characters are wounded from their family unit , and those wound do n’t heal . We sway them for our lives . What happens is now you have a group of hoi polloi who are stuck on the beacon together , all look at with their wounds , and really now they have a jury-rigged family . How does that family either hold up or end up at each other ’s throats ?
Aleph talks about his family , and he has a trouble with his creator . Milan had a trouble with his daughter , Halan with his father , and Aster with her parent . Other characters , like Bart and Harmony , are make trouble fitting in . They were all sort of thrown together , but now they are searching for or give their own family and come together . That ’s a journey that we search , and you could see that in the finale . I do n’t need to give thing away , but then that set the stage for the next part of our story .
Will There Be A Season 3 Of Beacon 23?
That actually leads me to my next doubt . The first time of year was great and the show got renewed fairly chop-chop . Is there going to be a season 3 ?
Glen Mazzara : As of now , time of year 3 has not been picked up , but I do have a plan for it . I ’m babble to the studio , I ’m talking to MGM+ . The ending of time of year 2 is project to be gratify because I never take anything for granted . If we terminate with season 2 , I hope it ’s a satisfying story , but there ’s also a trail lead forward to season 3 and more . I do have an idea in judgment that I ’m very activated about ; something I have n’t take in before that build on what we have and would be a lot of fun .
Shooting 2 seasons back - to - back is knotty , though . citizenry do n’t really do that anymore . So , I think we ’ve learned what the show is , what rooter are emotional about , and what energize us as Creator . Now , I ’m taking all of that energy and put it into time of year 3 , so I hope we get the opportunity to say that account .
In a perfect world , how many seasons would you want to have forBeacon 23to meet out ?
Glen Mazzara : That ’s a knotty question . I could see doing four or five season . I do n’t mean season 3 wrap it up , but I never desire to outstay a welcome . I do n’t cogitate this story on Beacon 23 has 10 seasons , and I have n’t make that kind of engine unless there ’s something else . But I would say four or five would be fulfil .
What I would do is I would open up another part of the world . I do experience like the Sabarians introduce that , or even when we cut aside to Ellen ’s new quality . I need to know what ’s going on in other portion of the universe , which is satisfying to me as a genre fan . When I buy a fantasy Christian Bible , I want to canvass the mapping . I desire to know , " What ’s go on over there ? What ’s happening over here ? What ’s happeningbeyond the Wall in Game of Thrones ? "
I experience Hugh Howey and Zak created a rich reality , and I would need to trifle with that . But I think the radio beacon itself , if I had my druthers , would go five seasons here . Then I would endeavor to feel another part of the universe of discourse and explore that .
young episodes ofBeacon 23release Sundays on MGM+ .
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Based on Hugh Howey ’s sci - fi thriller stories , Beacon 23 is a television version create by Zak Penn . The show follows the plight of Aster and Halan , who find themselves trap at the last of the universe in a " lighthouse . " intuition mount between the two as Halan start to enquire about Aster ’s true aim as they spend time together in isolation . The series was ab initio set to ventilate on AMC until it was pick up by MGM+ in 2023 .
