Carlton Cuse And Ryan Condal Tease Answers, Aliens, And Action in Colony Season 2

Thursday night marks the return of one of USA‘s top shows: Colony. The sci-fi drama set in a not-so-distant future Los Angeles brings LOST‘s Josh Holloway and The Walking Dead‘s Sarah Wayne Callies together for a thrilling political, somewhat apocalyptic adventure in a walled-off alien-ruled colony.

The Season 2 premiere explores the backstories of several key characters, offering new fans to the series a great jumping on point if they were not around for the first season in early 2016. Speaking to Colony creators Carlton Cuse and Ryan Condal about the upcoming 13-episode run, ComicBook.com learned the valuable intel from the minds behind the series.

“We wanted to make it feel rewarding for a Season 2 pilot,” Cuse said about Thursday’s premiere. “If you watched Season 1, you get a lot of information that you didn’t get about the arrival but also it’s a great point of entry for an audience that maybe didn’t want to watch in Season 1.”

Unlike some other shows, Cuse says you can start Colony with its second season and not feel left behind.

“On Colony, you can start with the first episode of Season 2,” Cuse said. “If you’re really excited you can go back and watch Season 1.”

For those fans who did burn through Season 1 already, they understand that the series has a few lingering mysteries. Cuse and Condal promise the mysteries will be explored when the show returns — specifically the Factory which has been mysteriously planted on the moon.

“You should always be worried!” said Condal when asked if some fan-favorite character might end up being shipped off to an abismal and hopeless life in the cosmos. “It is not safe in the world of occupied Los Angeles. We’re gonna learn a lot more about the Factory this year and its role in society and what’s actually going on.”

We will also be learning more about our existing characters while meeting a few new friends (and foes).

“There are some new faces and there’s a lot more screen time for some of the favorites from Season 1,” Cuse said. “Adrian Pasdar is someone who emerges in the second season and has a really cool role. We have a love interest for the Bram character who audiences might look for. Elaina, who was sort of one of the authority figures who was around in Season 1 is around a lot more in Season 2.”

As for whether or not one of the mysterious and apparently ruthless hosts will become a character, it will be “Season 9” before that happens, according to Condal.

For those fans tuning in having loved Callies and Holloway in The Walking Dead and LOST respectively, you might see shades of their Lori and Sawyer characters on the USA series. While Holloway has a strick “no calling people Freckles” rule, he does slip in a few “son of a b—-” lines every now and then. That’s because the writers keep their iconic characters in mind.

“I think, yes, you have to,” Condal said. “Part of writing for a character in episodic television, writing dramatically in any case, you have to learn who the person is and write to their strengths. Me and Carlton knew Josh very well coming out of many, many, many seasons of LOST and knew how to get the most out Josh as an actor.”

Colony airs Thursdays at 10 pm ET on USA.