Raised by Wolves season 2 has begun, continuing the saga of androids and humans on the new planet, Kepler-22b. Created by Aaron Guzikowski and executive produced by Ridley Scott, Raised by Wolves stars Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Travis Fimmel, and Niamh Algar, Winta McGrath, and Felix Jamieson. The new season also has some new faces, including Kim Engelbrecht and Selina Jones, who play Decima and Grandmother, respectively.
Screen Rant talked to Engelbrecht and Jones about their awareness of the show prior to being cast, as well as their feelings about it now that they're involved. Guzikowski talked about the themes that have carried over from Raised by Wolves season 1, as well as whether or not there's a grand plan for the whole series.
Screen Rant: For Kim and Selina, were you guys aware or had you seen Raised by Wolves prior to being cast and what was your reaction to it coming in?
Selina Jones: I’m not a sci-fi gal, so I had not seen it prior to being cast. I got the casting and I was like, “androids? Wow.” And then, had watched the first two episodes in the kind of stages of the audition and I’m seeing mother murder everyone on the ark and I said, “Wow, this is wild” and then finished watching it. It’s one of those TV shows where once you’re hooked, you just need to know the answers and it doesn’t give them easily, which is also something that’s really fun, so I loved jumping into this weird, challenging, complex world that’s just mind-blowing sci-fi. Really just mind-blowing and Aaron [Guzikowski] has written something exceptional.
Kim Engelbrecht: I didn’t watch it either. I’d know about the show definitely. It was just one of those shows that I felt really intimidated to get into immediately. Like, just really above me. But I think once I obviously got the job and I eased myself into I really liked the intensity-I love the violence of it really also. I do, I just love it.
So, Aaron, this is your baby and the entire concept has all these elements, the best elements of sci-fi; you’ve got androids, robots, new planets, war, religion, technology vs. man. I’m curious what is the driving force behind the show and its creation and did that stay the same through season 2?
Aaron Guzikowski: Um, somewhat so. I think family was a big part of it. I think this nucleus, this family and then growing even civilization as a family. It’s just a family times a million type of thing and I wanted to make sure that we retained that, that intimacy, that connection with the central family even as we expand the world that we still feel like we’re seeing it from the ground, seeing it from within the ranks of this small group that we’ve become so familiar with through season one.
Obviously you can’t tell me how everything ends, nor would I want you to, but do you have a master plan? How do you avoid that “Lost” sensibility where there’s so much complexity and so much going on and basically people are like, “Am I ever going to find out all the answers?” So, do you have a master plan and an endgame to Raised by Wolves?
Aaron Guzikowski: Yeah, no, there is a master plan. If you think of it as a house, the basic architecture, it’s pretty worked out. But, then as you kinda get into the rooms and the interior design of the whole thing that can change and a lot of times it starts to talk back to you. You’re seeing things and you’re like, “Wow, that actually is a lot more than I thought it would be, we should follow that and figure out where it goes.” And that’s within, though, this kind of larger skeleton that does exist. So, I think you try to get the best of both where you have enough of a direction and a purpose where you don’t find yourself just slapping on an ending at the end and just “have a nice day”. There is a grand plan behind it all. But, at the same time you want to keep things open enough that you can take advantage of that fact that this is an ongoing story and time is passing as we’re telling the story, the world is changing, all of these things are kind of being filtered in, so you want to listen to that stuff to the extent that you can, while still retaining what makes the show the show, so I think it’s trying to do a little bit of both.
Raised by Wolves season 2 debuts on Thursdays on HBO Max