The Following
Season 2 SABC3 (*193) 21:30 Action
Nothing is too much for dark thriller series The Following (2015-2017), which returns to free-TV with a double resurrection for season 2. Recovering alcoholic Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) came close to recapturing his serial killer nemesis Joe Carroll (James Purefoy) in season 1, only to see the escaped convict blown up in a boat-shed explosion. Season 2 picks up with “Ryan sober and happy and having moved on with his life,” explains Kevin. “But that is when the trouble comes back to haunt him.”
Season 2 kicks off with Joe’s acolytes – known as The Following – celebrating the anniversary of his death by attacking passengers on the subway. Ryan is teaching at a New York university and refuses to help the FBI with their investigation, but there’s a bigger worry on the way for Ryan and the law enforcement agency: Joe is alive! And he’s not even hiding… technically. The disgraced English professor is sporting a beard at the end of episode 1 and he’s teaching again, albeit under a pseudonym.
Ryan is dragged back into the hunt for Joe when his NYPD detective niece Max Hardy (Jessica Stroup, Erin in teen drama 90210, 2008-2013) is put on the subway attack case. “This is when his mask [teaching] falls off and the old, less-stable Ryan is sparked into life,” hints Kevin. And the Carroll curse isn’t over for the former FBI agent: his one-time lover and Joe’s ex-wife Claire Matthews (Natalie Zea, Robin in comedy series The Detour, 2016-current) didn’t die of a stab wound in season 1 – she’s waiting for Joe in a motel room in episode 9 (27 June). “This takes Joe and Ryan by surprise,” teases Kevin, “but it’s definitely not the last surprise…”