Terry Matalas Talks 12 Monkeys Season 2 and The Mother of a Reveal in “Emergence” [Exclusive] 

In tonight’s 12 Monkeys, which was a continuation of “One Hundred Years” with Cassie and Cole, and then Ramse, sent back a century, we found out Vivian’s role is a doozy. I talked to showrunner and creative mastermind Terry Matalas Friday afternoon, and over the course of the season, I’ll share snippets of that conversation as they relate to specific episodes. In this first installment, we chat about Cassie and Cole’s estrangement, why 1944, showing the world of 2044 beyond the compound, and that mother of a reveal for Vivian (Scottie Thompson) and The Pallid Man (Tom Noonan).

Four episodes in, Cassie and Cole are no closer to a reconciliation, and Matalas says that’s not really far off from where they finished up last year. “It’s really the continuation of the arc where we left off in the finale of last year. She really went to the dark side. She allowed her fiance to be tortured, aside from the fact that he betrayed her, and then he burned to death,” Matalas points out.

“And then Cole told her the Aaron made his choice. She sacrificed everything for this mission to save seven billion people, but Cole hasn’t. It continues in the first episode when they have guns on Jennifer and he tells her ‘No, no, no.’ She rightfully so, I think, has a real axe to grind with Cole about how far he’s willing to go save everyone, not just his friends. She’s driven for the greater good, and it doesn’t matter how far down the rabbit hole she has to go.”

In the second season, Jennifer becomes integral to the larger mythology of the show, something that was always the plan. “We always knew Jenifer was going to be a major player. We knew Jennifer would be a series regular by season 2 when we were casting,” Matalas says. “That’s why it was absolutely important that we cast the right person. Emily [Hampshire] brings a humor and specialness to things that we’ve found along the way.”

“One Hundred Years” and “Emergence” dial the action back to the middle of World War II, a time that was visually and thematically resonant for Matalas. “I think we thought it was nice to go back a clean century from 2044 to 1944. It’s an interesting time for humanity. It’s a paranoid place,” he explains. “It puts them up against the FBI at the time they’re looking for spies on our soil, and Cole’s definitely mind of an alien. And the nostalgia of the music and the look and everything. It was fun to play there.”

This season, we’re seeing more of the exteriors outside Jones’s lab, showing firsthand what happens in 2044 every time the past is tweaked, especially in terms of the Red Forest, and how the seeming destruction of the timeline physically manifests in the future. Matalas says they ventured outside this season to help broaden the story, and get ready, because that’s just the beginning. “It was more about just telling the larger story, and opening up the scope,” he shares. “The last three episodes are fairly epic. They’re very big in terms of what we have to do. It feels like a summer blockbuster.”

In the closing moments of “Emergence,” we get the brain-bending reveal that 2016’s Army of the 12 henchman, The Pallid Man, is actually Vivian’s son–so the future 12 begat the current 12. Let that rattle around for a minute. Matalas says the origin story was brewing for a while. “We always knew that he was different. We set up his strength when Cole punched him and he grabbed Cole’s fist and threw him. And we were like, ‘why would that be?'” he recalls.

“We knew that it had to do with the 12 who were engineered. Along the way, it seemed the right time to connect our new female villain to the Pallid Man. What was great about that was that she passes the torch to him.” As for whether we’ve met his father yet, Matalas says we have not.

I’ve seen the first eight episodes of season 2, and the twists and turns keep coming. Check back this season for more from my chat with Terry Matalas.

12 Monkeys airs Mondays at 10/9c on Syfy.