Reign Edwards & Sarah Pidgeon Interview: The Wilds Season 2

Amazon Prime Video hit a home run with The Wilds, which returns for season 2 on May 6. The thrilling drama follows a group of girls who crash landed in the wilderness, much like a modern twist on the classic novel Lord of The Flies or a less supernatural companion to its contemporary Yellowjackets series. But there's one big difference that sets The Wilds apart: the crash was no accident.

The series operates on two timelines, showcasing the teenagers as they survive the aftermath of the crash and then portraying their circumstances as they're questioned by authorities. But little do they know that both situations have been orchestrated by a group of scientists led by Gretchen Klein (Rachel Griffiths) in a misguided effort to overthrow the patriarchy. At the end of season 1, Leah (Sarah Pidgeon) discovers in the present that there was a group of boys who had been stranded just like them, while fellow crash survivor Rachel (Reign Edwards) must contend with her sister's apparent death in the past.

Edwards and Pidgeon spoke to Screen Rant about how Rachel and Leah are handling their respective burdens, the tentative team they'll have to build, and who would win between the Dawn of Eve and the Twilight of Adam.

Leah-Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope. How are you going to break these girls out of here? How is she handling the pressure of being the one with the Cassandra truth?

Sarah Pidgeon: Leah, as we know, her mind moves so fast. And I think something that she's beginning to realize is that, as fast as she can put her finger on the pulse, things can change.

I think that's true on and off the island, and I think throughout season 2, you start to see her realize that she doesn't need to have such a strong [obsession]. She can still have conviction, but it doesn't need to become obsessive, because she realizes that at a certain point there's only so much she can - not necessarily so much she can do, because there's a lot of question marks. But there's only so much that the people around her can take.

I think that's probably the biggest struggle that that you see in season, her realizing just how far that she can actually push something. And even if she wants to, it can be really detrimental to her mental health and those that surround her.

But she definitely has a lot of pressure to sort of figure out what's going on, I'd say.

Meanwhile, Rachel has been going through it since presumably losing Nora. How do we find her at the start of season 2? How is she handling her own guilt?

Reign Edwards: She's not handling it well. And it's kind of like she's just stuck, in a sense. I think you'll see Leah's character and Rachel's character kind of come together to pull each other out of their detrimental states at the time. It's going to be really exciting to see.

But definitely, episode 1 starts off with a bang for Rachel.

Since the Dawn of Eve has been joined by the Twilight of Adam, do you a feel like you get a break? Have you been mentoring these young men in the ways of The Wilds?

Reign Edwards: We definitely did get a little bit of a break, because season 1 all day every day was us.

And we did, I think, mentor the boys a bit and give them as much advice as we could. But obviously they were on their own journeys on the show, so there's only so much you can like prepare for.

Leah gets to witness more of what the boys go through than most. If you had to bet on who would do better - sans Gretchen - between the Dawn of Eve and the Twilight of Adam, who would you bet on?

Sarah Pidgeon: Girls all the way! Girls all the way - definitely the girls.

The Wilds Synopsis

A group of teen girls from different backgrounds must fight for survival after a plane crash strands them on a deserted island. The castaways both clash and bond as they learn more about each other, the secrets they keep, and the traumas they've all endured. There’s just one twist to this thrilling drama… these girls did not end up on this island by accident.

Survival hangs in the balance after the explosive discovery that what's happening to them is an elaborate social experiment. Season 2 ups the drama and keeps you guessing, with the introduction of more test subjects – a new island of teenage boys – who must also fight for survival under the watchful eye of the experiment’s puppet master.

Check out our other interviews with the cast and crew of The Wilds, such as with: