It’s been a few months since the Ashley Madison hacking scandal unleashed hundreds of mens’ names to the world, and revealed they’d been cheating to their significant others. Coincidentally speaking, Sam Esmail, the creator of USA’s new standout drama Mr. Robot, is among those affected by the hack. But while most of the names released were of men guilty of infidelity, Variety reports that Esmail joined the website all in the name of research.
Attending this week’s PaleyFest in New York with the rest of the cast, Esmail admitted to signing up for multiple online outlets — including dating sites like Eharmony — that cater to those seeking some type of company, mostly of the romantic kind. Commenting on the hack that occurred in September, Esmail stated, “of course, my name is in the thing.” And when you think about it, this totally makes sense.
Throughout the storylines explored in the 10-episode first season, multiple characters use such online dating sites. Once news broke regarding the hack, the timeliness of the issue made these plot details feel much more relevant and led to an even more compelling series. And since Elliott Alderson, the main protagonist in the series, connects with people around him via hacking their online presences as opposed to pursuing real-life relationships, the research in question feels, dare I say, completely justified.
Also in attendance for the Q&A were cast-members Christian Slater (Mr. Robot), Rami Malek (Elliott), Carly Chaikin (Darlene) and Portia Doubleday (Angela), who all confirmed no knowledge of what’s to come in season 2. Esmail has been keeping the details of the show’s direction close to the chest and Chaikin commented on this by saying, “We’re nosy and we’re needy. We all want to know everything.”
Story direction aside, Christian Slater posed a possible connection of his character in Mr. Robot to that of his role of Mark Hunter in the 1990 cult film Pump Up The Volume. It’s hard not to see the similarities between the two characters and Slater further proposed Mr. Robot as the continuation of that story by saying, “I think this is it!” when asked if a sequel to the original film will ever see the light of day.
Esmail, who seems to be knee deep in new research for the show’s highly anticipated new episodes, promised fans that questions will be answered in the show’s new season. However, with that statement, he suggested those sought after answers might just lead to more questions. Honestly, we wouldn’t expect anything less.
(Via Variety)
