SPOILER ALERT: This article contains details of tonight’s La BreaSeason 1 finale.
“One of the things that I think makes our show unique is that we like to answer the questions quick, faster than other shows might, and then pose new ones,”” La Brea creator David Appelbaum of NBC’s breakout sci-fi drama that wrapped up its time traveling first season tonight.
“So, all these mysteries that we’re talking about are things that we have some interesting answers for, and yeah, I don’t think we’re going to leave the audience frustrated like some other shows in this genre have before,” the co-showrunner added with a tease of what’s to come next.
Less than a month after the Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Jack Martin, Zyra Gorecki, Jon Seda, Chiké Okonkwo, Karina Logue, Veronica St. Clair, Rohan Mirchandaney, Nicholas Gonzalez, Lily Santiago, Chloe De Los Santos and Josh McKenzie starring series from showrunners Appelbaum, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt was renewed for a second season, tonight’s “Topanga”Season 1 finale: All rules, family ties, and time were thrown out.
And that says a lot for show that focuses on a mother (Zea) and son (Martin) separated by over 11,000 years from the estranged father (Macken) and daughter (Gorecki) after a massive sinkhole opens up at Los Angeles’ famed tar pits.
In that spirit, Appelbaum talked to me about his Adam Davidson directed finale. The EP covered escape, big swings and Australia as well as new characters as well as what the future holds for next year.
DEADLINE: You really went old school network large with Topanga, packing a lot into one hour with the paint on your renewal almost still fresh, didn’t you?
APPELBAUM:We wanted Season 2 to have a lot more possibilities and cliffhangers. You know, with Josh and Riley going through the light, revealing the building, the death of Marybeth, and Gavin, and Izzy coming down the sinkhole, we’re really trying to set up these new potentials for Season 2, and putting people on new journeys, to reveal some new mysteries.
DEADLINE:Do you think there is a chance that La Brea will be landed in your first season?
APPELBAUM:We know where we are going and what the next steps will take us. But, we haven’t really tried to pin ourselves down to a specific number of seasons to get there. Personally, I think it’s the kind of show where we can keep expanding what the world is. It definitely has the potential to be a long-term success.
DEADLINE:We briefly see Scott and Dr. Aldridge at the tower at its end. At the same time, Gavin, Izzy and Izzy are back in 10,000 BC Washington State trying to make it down to California. How is this all going to come together? Because the family has basically reunited, with the exception of Josh who’s now gone to 1988, or we don’t know, actually, where he’s gone.
APPELBAUM: (LAUGHS) We don’t know where he’s gone. One thing I will say is that he’s going to be in a new time period, one that the show hasn’t seen before, so it’s going to be opening up another world of possibilities.
DEADLINE:However, the Harris family remains the heart of the Harris family across time and space.
APPELBAUM:It is one of the most important stories in the show. We want them to be as separated as possible in the finale. Now they’re separated in terms of time, but even at some point when they do get back together, they’ll be separated in terms of their emotion and the relationship factures that have existed before the story begins. They also have to consider the new relationships they’ve formed because of the story. So, you’re right, this is really at the heart, this journey about this family trying to reconnect with each other.
DEADLINE:Scott finally reaches the top of the tower, where Dr. Aldridge informs him that she built it.
APPELBAUM: I don’t want to give away too much of it, but I will say that the audience will get answers very early in the season. We’re going to enter this building, and we’re going to understand why it’s here and what it’s being used for.
DEADLINE:Why such a quick reveal?
APPELBAUM:It’s likely that viewers will want to know this right away. So, we’re going to give that to them in the first episode back in Season 2. We’re going to explore it and not keep them frustrated by it, I don’t want to say exactly what it is.
DEADLINE:What are your thoughts on Season 2?
APPELBAUM: We just started the writers’ room yesterday, actually, but you know, we’ve certainly been talking and planning it, my co-showrunners, Bryan Wynbrandt and Steven Lilien and I. We’re always talking and coming up with ideas about where the show can be, so we do have a lot of these ideas now.
DEADLINE: You’d have to, I mean, you have a sprawling cast. Is Season 2 going to introduce some new characters, some important new characters?
APPELBAUM: Absolutely.
Josh and Riley are going to be traveling to a new time period, we’re going to meet new characters within that time period. We will meet other people in the world 10,000 BC. These people are related to the building we saw at the end Season 1. So, definitely, we’re going to see new characters because one of the important things about the show is that we want to be expanding the possibilities of what it is, and that includes finding new people.
DEADLINE: Certainly you had some Easter eggs peppered throughout Season 1 …
APPELBAUM: True, we’ve hinted at a lot of different things as far as what these sinkholes are. We’ve seen Civil War gold here, now we’ve seen a building here, we’ve seen a cow with a barcode on it. There’s a lot of mysteries that we’ve set up that we’re planning to get into in Season 2, but, the first season is only ten episodes, so there’s only so many mysteries we can answer.
My favorite thing about our show is the way we respond to questions faster than others and then ask new questions. So, all these mysteries that we’re talking about are things that we have some interesting answers for, and yeah, I don’t think we’re going to leave the audience frustrated like some other shows in this genre have before.
DEADLINE: Unlike a lot of shows in any genre, you had a vast distance between you and the writers’ room in LA and production in Australia, not to mention a pandemic thrown in there and the protocols that were subsequently required. How did this affect your show every day?
APPELBAUM: It’s hard to know exactly how it affected the show day to day, but you know, one of the things I think that appeals to people about the show, is that it’s an escape …
DEADLINE:What do you mean by that?
APPELBAUM:Escape from reality is what we long for. We are now trapped in our homes every day and feel like we have no escape. So, perhaps it’s made us more imaginative and curious about ways of escape that transcend our offices or our basements, where we’re working out of every day. It’s hard to know if it’s had that effect, but you know, I think that’s definitely a possibility.
From just a production level, I’ve been very surprised how we’re able to make everything work remotely — editing remotely, writing remotely, dealing with production remotely. I did go to set for a couple months to get the production started, but still, it is quite amazing that you’re able to produce a show just by barely leaving your house. It’s something I never would have expected 18 months ago.
DEADLINE:Are you imagining organizational changes in Season 2?
APPELBAUM: That’s a great question. The time zone differences and logistical difficulties in Australia pose a problem. They’re 17 hours ahead of us which is a brain-twisting idea in and of itself. However, there are so many amazing opportunities to shoot there.
As far as how we’ll run the show differently – well, the production is going to be starting up soon and we’re getting into those logistical challenges that we faced in Season 1, taking a new look. But you know, it’s a big show. We’ve got some really talented crew in Australia, great producing director and other talented directors that we’ve hired, , so, regardless of how it changes or not, we’ll figured it out eventually. It’s just going to be few late nights.
DEADLINE:Even though a network series of breakout shows seems like a far-fetched dream, La Brea has scored nicely on linear TV and proved the biggest in-house hit so far for Peacock …
APPELBAUM: Yeah, it’s really exciting just to see the way that audiences have responded to the show. Although the live viewership was good, it’s been incredible to see the online viewership. It is amazing how many people are watching the show online.
DEADLINE: So, what’s your take on why you were able to break through on both platforms, so to speak?
APPELBAUM: So, I think, NBC and UniversalTV see that the show is working and they’ve been very supportive partners in the show, and honestly have really been on board with the vision of the show from the beginning. They want to do more and take it to new heights. Luckily, they really trust in our storytelling, and have always given us a lot of freedom in terms of what these stories can be, and putting so much support behind it, and I think they’re going to continue to do that.
Our show was intended to be big swinging, and attract viewers from all walks of society. I think that’s what NBC and UTV really responded to about it, that we wanted to make something noisy.