The SyFy hit “Helix” – from “Battlestar Galactica” and “Outlander” executive producer Ronald D. Moore – returns for a sophmore season of infectious contagions and the Ilaria Corporation machinations. But this time with a side order of crazy island cultists.
Fifteen months after the demise of the Arctic Biosystems, the Center for Disease Control team is dispatched to the Northern Pacific Ocean. But what should”ve been a standard response to a potential deadly outbreak turns into a tangled mystery involving an island cult and genetically modified crops.
Meanwhile, 40 years in the future, Julia Walker is on the same island searching for Alan…and answers.
In the exclusive clip above from the latest episode, “Oubliette,” Dr. Peter Farragut thinks he”s tracked down the source of the infection. But will Brother Michael believe him?
HitFix Harpy also spoke to “Helix” stars Jordan Hayes and Matt Long about what fans can look forward to in Season 2!
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HitFix: For folks that have not seen the first season of “Helix”, do they need to go back and watch that for season two to make sense? Or can they kind of jump right in?
Jordan Hayes: I think they can kind of jump right in. There's some things that they”ll miss from the first season but it's not essential to be able to follow along with the show.
Matt Long: Yeah. I have some family members who didn”t watch the first season and were a little confused at first. But now they”re piecing things together and they seem to be enjoying it.
What exactly is going on with your characters this season?
Matt: I'm the new guy on the team and I have been sent, well to be the new guy, Dr. Kyle Sommer. But I have also have an ulterior motive and I can't reveal what it is yet. But it will be revealed soon. In the next episode or two I think. So Kyle has sort of a secondary mission that's a secret.
Does that mean Kyle knew he was signing up for a Pacific island full of crazy fungus zombies?
Matt: He did not know he was signing up for this. That's for sure. I think this has just kind of snowballed. None of them really knew what they were getting into when they went to the ship in the middle of the ocean with the dead people on it. No, Kyle was given a task and I think there's a lot of him that wishes that he wasn't doing it. He's upset with the situation, especially the cult. I think more than any of the other characters he's really judgmental about the cult immediately. Things are black-and-white for Kyle and he thinks this is a island full of a bunch of wackos and he doesn't want to have anything to do with it.
That's seems like a valid response, what with the toothless human skulls all over the place.
Matt: Yeah really. I don't think he's far off.
As for Dr. Jordan – is that weird for you that your name is Jordan and you're playing a character with that name?
Jordan: It's kind of cool actually. It makes it easy. People can just call me Jordan. They don't have to worry about messing up my name.
Matt: I just called her Sarah a minute ago.
Jordan: That actually happens way more than you would think that people just call me Sarah in real life.
At the end of last season Sarah was pregnant. And things revealed this season imply she”s going to be pregnant forever?
Jordan: Yeah. She's still pregnant. Basically what happened, Sarah became an Immortal when she was six days pregnant. So the baby is frozen in this immortal stage inside of her, because that's what happens on our show. Immortality is that you stay the same age you were when you become Immortal. She's been stuck in the first trimester for the last 15 months. And there's going to be a lot more happening with that storyline.
Speaking of kids, there are a lot of children on the island in varying states insanity. Kyle was attacked by children and then there's Soren. Do you guys think that the theme of the children are an important piece of the puzzle or is it just that isolated island cultists get it on a lot?
Jordan: It's a theme. It's certainly a theme. There's a pretty interesting pay off for that later on in the season. You'll see.
Matt: Yeah. There's a whole lot of twisted things going on there and there's definitely a payout. It will be explained.
For viewers just tuning in this season, “Helix” is surprisingly glory. There's people with their eyes removed; there”s fungus is growing out of people; there's wine barrels full of teeth. Is there anything on set that made you balk?
Matt: There are some scenes I wasn't in where things that were happening and I thought, “Oh my God I'm glad I'm not doing that because it's so disturbing and dark and awful.” But I think that's part of the show and I think that the audience are people that like that sort of slasher aspect aspect.
Jordan: We're kind of blessed in Montreal. We have one of the best special effects teams in the world and they're so talented and they work so hard and they do such a good job. You're going to see later on in the season just how great the special effects are going to get. There's a lot of brilliantly great stuff that you're going to see. I can't say what it is but the special effects team is awesome.
“Helix” airs Fridays at 10/9c on SyFy.