another day in paradox
Josh, Tiger and Wolf head to the future to fix more of their messes in season two of Future Man
If you loved the breakneck ride of a debut season that was filled to the brim with time travel paradoxes, ’80s movie riffs and, er, semen jokes, then just you wait for season two of Future Man.
Before the show returns this month, executive producer and co-creator Kyle Hunter promises (or should that be warns?) Red Alert that they spent their hiatus figuring out how to top the wildness of season one – and the result is an even crazier second year. “Hulu lets us do whatever we want, and doesn’t give us notes,” he says with blissful sincerity. “When you don’t have that, you can literally do anything. That kind of freedom creates weird shows.”
Weird is the perfect description for Future Man, a sci-fi comedy centred around underachiever Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson). On beating his favourite videogame Biotic Wars, Josh is amazed to find the two main game characters, Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson), in his house. From an actual post-apocalyptic future, the duo enlists Josh to help them change their bleak world from the present, but mostly just end up messing up time lines, creating alt versions of themselves and causing chaos. However, in the season finale, Tiger and Wolf go back to their hopefully improved future, only to return in the last seconds of the episode to retrieve Josh.
rebel girl
Why? Hunter explains that the time travelling duo now need Josh’s help in their altered reality. “In the same way that Tiger and Wolf came from a divided world with warring factions, they’ve come back to a place where there are two sets of society,” he reveals. “One mirrors the Resistance group they came from, except they don’t live in the sewers now. They live above ground in the NAG, or the New Above Ground. It’s reminiscent of a Mumbai-esque neighbourhood. They are anti-technology.”
Fellow executive producer and co-creator Ariel Shaffir adds, “The other side believes the Earth is dying and they need to relocate to Mars, and are getting ready to do that. So, it’s a climate change story, with deniers and believers just like in our world.”
With the narrative now living in the post-apocalyptic world, Shaffir says this year is a lot less about borrowing from the familiar. “We try to create a more unique story that isn’t quite as referential to past movies,” he explains. “There are still jokes that reference movies in terms of major plot points, or even setting the world, but it feels more unique than last season. Plus, between the seasons, we all got really into Rick And Morty so that has certainly influenced a lot of things that happen this season.”
And as for the character’s arcs, Hunter says the nature of altruism and heroism is a huge thematic spine for the season. “We explore that even though they are trying to save the world, and that seems altruistic, is it for selfish reasons, or whether you are doing it to help others. It makes a character more human if you can explore their flaws, as well as what makes them likeable. There is definitely some grey area in there, and there continues to be next season.” TB
Future Man returns to Hulu in the US from 11 January. The show airs on Syfy in the UK.