Interview with “Extant” Creator Mickey Fisher: New Characters and Evolution of the Series!

Fans of the CBS sci-fi show Extant are in for a lot of exciting changes when the second season airs this July. Some new characters will be joining Molly Woods (Halle Berry) as she races to save the world from a huge threat!

I immensely enjoyed the first season of Extant. It gave me a strong POC female lead, aliens, robots, and it raised questions about what it means to be human. We had the chance to interview Mickey Fisher, the creator, writer and one of the executive producers of Extant, and got to know about a lot of interesting details awaiting viewers in the upcoming season.

Molly Woods

The lead of the show, Molly Woods, went through a lot in season 1, and in season 2 she discovers that her half-alien son is a threat to the whole world. While her character was confused at first, trying to make sense of her surprise pregnancy and all of the conspiracies around her, this time around she’s going to be more proactive. Not only that, her mental state will also be in question. Her alien son is going to keep on surviving and that will give rise to a “ripple effect” and “consequences” for humans.

I’m personally looking forward to seeing Molly’s character develop further. She had a lot taken away from her, and it will be interesting to see how she deals with the threat her alien son gives rise to because in a sense she still feels responsible for bringing him to Earth.

Ethan Woods

Ethan (Pierce Gagon) experienced a sort of transcendence at the end of season 1. He will keep experiencing the “push and pull” between his human and AI sides, and will continue trying to figure out who he really is.

His creator, John Woods (Goran Visnjic), has had an important influence on him, and it was evident since the first episode. The fight between Ethan’s human and AI personalities made for a very interesting character arc in the debut season. Extant raises questions about what it means to be human, and I liked seeing Ethan trying to figure it out as the story progressed. He did come across as a bit creepy during some of the episodes, and I actually thought he was getting on track to lead a robotic revolution when he brought back a broken robot from the park.

Pierce Gagon played Ethan impressively and the more I get to see of him the better!

Julie Gelineau

I loved Julie (Grace Gummer) in Extant. I loved how the writers didn’t play with the age-old “assistant-boss-wife” love-triangle and actually made Julie her own character. She’s smart and cares a lot about Ethan. Julie is returning as a regular for season 2 and she will get to interact more with Molly, which is something I’m glad to hear. We need more female characters interacting with each other and talking about stuff other than male love interests.

She will also get a more “elevated” role in the Humanchis Project and face some tough situations. The alien-threat storyline will also cross her path, and I can’t wait to see how she deals with the existence of extraterrestrials.

General Tobias Shepard

General Tobias Shepard is a new character joining the story and will be played by David Morrissey. He’s the head of the Global Security Commission, which keeps an eye out for extinction level events. He knows Molly and John. We’ll see the responsibilities of his job conflicting with his feelings towards the Woods family.

David Morrissey was amazing as The Governor on The Walking Dead and I’m looking forward to seeing him take on the role in Extant. I’m telling you guys right now that I will be referring to him as The General from now on.

J.D. Richter

Richter is another new character being introduced this season. He’ll be played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan (The hot Irish guy who isn’t Irish) and is described as a “cop of the future”. I like the concept the writers will be introducing in the show when it comes to policing. Cops in the future operate independently. They get alerts on their phones telling them about crimes taking place, and they have a few seconds to decline or accept.

His character is said to deliver the audience’s perspective in the show. He’s also going to be a bit of a “skeptic” and will be opposite to Molly’s character because she has had experience with aliens. Richter will also “cross paths” with The General and I’m excited about that. By the sound of things Richter, The General and Molly have different personalities and they are bound to clash with each other sooner or later. Talk about a lot of talents sharing the same screen!

Season 2 of Extant will definitely be taking a new direction compared to the previous one. With two new showrunners joining the crew, Craig Shapiro and Liz Kruger, fans of Extant will see it “evolve” into something better.

We also got to ask a fun question about Molly’s wardrobe. The wedges she wore back in season 1 were one of the biggest distractions! So, keep an eye out for the whole interview to be posted on our YouTube channel.

Extant Season 2 will premiere on CBS on July 1^st at 10 p.m.

Are you excited about the direction Extant Season 2 is taking? What did you think of the first season? Let us know!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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