Meet the new faces of Fox's creepy 'Wayward Pines'
Wayward Pines is going off-book in its second season.
After exhausting the Blake Crouch novels that inspired it, Fox's M. Night Shyamalan thriller introduces new stories and characters Wednesday (9 ET/PT). Chief among them is Dr. Theo Yedlin (The Lost Boys' Jason Patric), who replaces Matt Dillon's FBI agent as the show's protagonist. Yedlin finds himself in the distant future in Wayward Pines, Idaho, a Twin Peaks-esque town where mysterious residents fight for survival against mutated humans known as "abbies" who lurk beyond a border fence. (Peaks, another inspiration for the series, returns on Showtime in 2017).
"It's interesting how the science-fiction and supernatural element really just intensifies the human dilemma of what we're all doing here," says Patric, who hadn't watched the first season before signing on but was drawn to the dark premise. Get to know more of the town's fresh and familiar faces:
Dr. Theo Yedlin (Jason Patric)
A renowned surgeon who awakens from suspended animation in Wayward Pines, where he unwillingly becomes the town's new physician. "He's this sort of surrogate and objective eyes for anyone just coming into the story," Patric says. "When he wakes up and he's put there, he's told all these things, but he's very skeptical."
Jason Higgins (Tom Stevens)
A first-generation resident who also appeared last season and assumes control of the town. "He has a dark side, but he also has a difficult job, because the weight of the future of humanity rests on his shoulders," executive producer Mark Friedman says. "He may have to kill someone, but if you do that and can save 10 other people, is it worth it? We may hate him at times, but we'll also respect him for the difficult things that leadership requires of him."
C.J. Mitchum (Djimon Hounsou)
A resident of Wayward Pines who's put in charge of the pod room, where people were cryogenically frozen for 2,000 years in order to preserve the human race. "He was the only person who ever truly saw the end of humanity, because everyone else just woke up and all was gone," Friedman says. "It gives him a burden or a guilt that maybe no one else has."
Megan Fisher (Hope Davis)
A research scientist following in the footsteps of the town's fanatical creator, David Pilcher (Toby Jones), who was killed by his sister (Melissa Leo) in the Season 1 finale. "She sees Jason as the one that needs her guidance and to continue Pilcher's teachings," Friedman says. "She is someone who speaks the truth, but with an air of menace and a smile on her face, which makes her even more disturbing."
Rebecca Yedlin (Nimrat Kaur)
Theo's wife, who's on vacation with him in Hawaii when he's kidnapped and taken to Wayward Pines. "She'll seem like someone who's just caught up in the collateral damage, but we'll learn that she has a much deeper role in the history of Wayward Pines," Friedman says. "(She) has a lot of secrets that she's keeping, not only from her husband, but from other key people in the town."
Kerry Campbell (Kacey Rohl)
Jason's lieutenant and right-hand woman, who is both "smart and calculating," Friedman says. "This is about people doing what it takes to survive, and for her, that means gravitating toward power. But as the season goes on, we'll see that she may have a different agenda and be seeking power for herself."
Xander Beck (Josh Helman)
A charismatic resident trying to subvert the town's crooked leadership from within. "This is a world with a lot of rules," Friedman says. "Some people can thrive in that kind of world, and some are always looking for ways to break out of it. He's a guy who's trying to find a way to survive, but also keep it interesting and spice it up."