In today's day and age of superior long-form storytelling (Game Of Thrones, Breaking Bad) and satisfying self-contained anthologies (Fargo, American Crime Story), FOX's Wayward Pines seems to exist somewhere in the middle. It straddles the line between a serialized story about a post-apocalyptic town in Idaho and a form that allows it to essentially reboot every year, keeping the show fresh and remaining accessible to new viewers. It's an impressive feat — but it also means it's hard to predict what's in store for the future of the show. If FOX decides to renew the M. Night Shyamalan-produced series for another outing, would Wayward Pines Season 3 have the same cast? Or would we be looking at a whole new roster next year?
While Season 1 was an eerie Twin Peaks-esque drama about a man discovering the dark secret behind a mysterious town, Season 2 was much more action-oriented show about a newly-militarized Wayward Pines and its defense against an impending invasion of abbies. Season 1 had a surprisingly high body count, with high-profile stars like Matt Dillon (Ethan), Terrence Howard (Sheriff Pope), Juliette Lewis (Beverly), and Toby Jones (Pilcher) all biting the dust before it was over.
Consequently, Season 2's soft reboot of the series required a massive influx of new faces, such as Jason Patric's Theo, Djimon Hounsou's C.J., and Kacey Rohl's Kerry. By the end of the season, every single one of the show's surviving original cast members had joined their Season 1 co-stars in TV heaven — Carla Gugino (Kate), Melissa Leo (Pam), Hope Davis (Megan), Shannyn Sossamon (Theresa), and Charlie Tahan (Ben) — officially completing the changing of the guard to Wayward Pines' newest residents.
Assuming the hypothetical third season would follow the same pattern, that's certainly not good news for fans who have grown attached to Patric, Hounsou, and their surviving Season 2 co-stars. The Season 2 finale seemed to set up the show for a similar soft reboot, with the entire populace of Wayward Pines, Idaho either going back into cryogenic slumber or being devoured by abbies. Presumably the show will pick up hundreds, if not thousands, of years in the future, with the citizens — both faces we're familiar with and ones we've never seen before — waking up to face a brand new day.
Since FOX has yet to officially renew Wayward Pines, it's obviously hard to say for sure which cast members will and won't return for the hypothetical third season. But Season 3 would probably be distinct from Season 2 in one key way: at the very least it seems unlikely that we'll rotate through yet another handsome dark-haired male protagonist, since unlike Dillon's Ethan Burke, Patric's Dr. Theo managed to make it through the events of his season alive.
Will Hounsou's C.J., Nimrat Kaur's Rebecca, and Josh Helman's Xander all return to join Patric for Season 3? If so, which new faces will be added to the town's census to help them in their final battle against the abbies? It's impossible to say ahead of time — but finding out will just be one small part of the fun of what's likely to be Wayward Pines ' final season. And no matter who returns or who joins for the first time, who lives or who dies, hopefully Wayward Pines Season 3 can at least treat us to one final cameo from Howard's ice cream-loving Sheriff Pope.
Images: Sergei Bashlakov, Frank Ockenfels, Patrick Hoelck/FOX
