12 MONKEYS
Witness the fourth and final season of 12 Monkeys
Season four is the last hurrah. Wonder if Terry Gilliam watches this…
It’s the beginning of the end for 12 Monkeys as the trippy, twisty timetravel saga returns for its fourth and final season – and the stakes have never been higher as the Witness and the Army of the 12 Monkeys inch closer to destroying the world.
When viewers last saw our heroes, Cassie and Cole had discovered their adult son, Athan, wasn’t the Witness after all, as that mantle belonged to Olivia. Athan ultimately sacrificed himself to allow his parents to escape. Emotionally beaten and physically battered – not to mention with their time machine on the fritz – it seems Team Splinter has lost any hope of winning their war.
“Season four picks up the exact moment we left off,” showrunner Terry Matalas (who, appropriately, owns his own original Back To The Future DeLorean) tells Red Alert. “After a teaser that takes place hundreds of years earlier, we are right back with our heroes the moment where they just got back from Titan. Olivia has revealed herself to be the Witness. We find them in some serious trouble.
“Cassie, in particular, is not in a good place,” he continues. “Cole is more driven than ever because of Athan’s sacrifice and he’s willing to fight until the end. That, and one of the last conflicts was with Jones, who believed their son to be responsible for all of their misery. She shot Athan. So, that conflict, or the consequences of season three, are very much at the forefront in the beginning.”
As usual, the group’s trajectory lies in the past. The gang will travel back to World War II, the ’60s ,’70s and even more places. In fact, a jaunt to England during the Middle Ages could hold the key to finally vanquishing the Army of the 12 Monkeys once and for all.
“It all begins and ends there,” Matalas teases. “It’s this quest for them to find this thing somewhere in the past. Our heroes go back, but, also, our villains. It’s a gigantic episode.”
One significant bombshell revolved around Olivia learning she was actually the Witness and not Athan. That revelation even caught Olivia off-guard and there’s naturally been a bit of an adjustment period.
“Olivia has to become the Witness,” notes Matalas. “She has to become this entity, who had been giving her orders. Ironically, she learns these orders were coming from herself. But is Olivia prepared to do that? She has a lot working against her. Athan was Primary. Olivia is not, so how can she see the grand design if she’s not Primary? The resolution to that is coming in a very Witness-centric episode.”
12 Monkeys’ highly serialised narrative has always incorporated romance, action, love, betrayal, bravery and epic storytelling. As for the finale, Matalas promises all burning questions will be answered – but perhaps not as neatly as audiences expected.
“You’re going to want a box of tissues nearby,” Matalas reveals. “There are some grown men who watched it and have been broken by the end. It’s an emotional rollercoaster and we’re really proud of it.” BC
12 Monkeys returns to Syfy in the US from 15 June. The show also airs on Syfy in UK.