Netflix’s Away Producers Tease Season 2 Plans

Away debuted on Netflix this past weekend, providing subscribers with the latest binge-worthy drama series to enjoy. The intimate, character-driven series follows a diverse group of astronauts on the first mission to Mars, as well as the loved ones that they left behind on Earth. After ten episodes of emotional conflict and impossible odds, the season ended on a surprising note — one that will potentially tee up an epic second season. Spoilers for Season 1 of Away lurk below! Only look if you want to know! In a recent interview with Collider, creator Andrew Henderaker and executive producer Jessica Goldberg broke down the series’ ending, which sees the crew triumphantly and successfully landing on Mars.

“In terms of Season 2, I always felt like if there was a final card that I would love to have on the season, it would be ‘Away will return for Season 2… on Mars,’” Hinderaker explained. “Part of what we’re promising is what that crew experiences at the very end, we now we get to live in a new world.”

“Yeah. And I think just to add to that, going through that emotional journey, because you’ve seen the show so you know there’s a certain point halfway through, and this would really happen where you can no longer see each other on Skype or on your computer and everything has to be text and there’s a delay that’s 20 minutes,” Golberg added. “And it’s been hard enough for all of us having to realize like, “Oh I had to isolate two weeks before I can see my mother.” And those steps are so important to the emotional journey of these characters.

According to Hinderaker, the goal was always for Season 1’s tumultuous space mission to ultimately be awe-inspiring, something that was partially inspired by real events.

“The day one idea from the pitch of the show was that it would begin with Emma looking back at Earth from the moon and ends with her looking back at Earth from Mars. That’s just so much of the show is about,” Hinderaker explained. “The only other thing I’ll add is that Jess and I got to see InSight, the probe, land on Mars in 2018. We were at Jet Propulsion Laboratory with the people who helped design it as it was approaching Mars. And with them in the room, through this pin-drop silence as they’re watching their life’s work either go up in flames or slam onto another planet. And the moment — it was so exciting and so moving, there was a small moment where the first photograph from InSight came back, a dust-spackled photograph of another planet. And we all burst into cheers and then one of our writers turned to us and said, ‘Imagine now that there had been people on it.’ So it felt like that’s what we wanted to build to.”

Away stars Hilary Swank, Josh Charles, Vivian Wu, Mark Ivanir, Ato Essandoh, Ray Panthaki, and Talitha Bateman. Season 1 is currently available to stream on Netflix.