The Upload Cast And Creatives Talk About Season 2 And How The Show Is Predicting Our Future
The big update has arrived!
From Emmy Award-winning writer Greg Daniels (The Office, Parks and Recreation), Upload is back for season 2. The sci-fi comedy series is set in a technologically advanced near future with hologram phones, 3D food printers, and the unique ability for humans to be “uploaded” into a virtual afterlife. In season 2, Nathan (Robbie Amell) is at a crossroads in his (after) life when his ex-girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) uploads to Lakeview to strengthen their relationship. Nathan still has feelings for his customer service angel Nora (Andy Allo), while she has gone off the grid with the anti-tech rebel group “The Ludds.” New technological advances like digital baby programs called “prototykes” and other satirical glimpses at technological advances come to light. I spoke with the cast and creatives of Upload about the new season and how good the series had been at predicting the future of our own world.
Season 1 ended with Ingrid making the biggest sacrifice, uploading into Lakeview for Nathan, but will she finally achieve what she wants? “[Ingrid has] arrived where she's always wanted to be, which is in the same room as Nathan. What more could she want? But such is the case with life. Sometimes when you get what you want you're still left wanting. It doesn’t solve her problem,” Allegra Edwards told me in our interview. “The problem in her relationship is not physical distance. It's compatibility. Emotional distance. All these things that she maybe took for granted or never really realized. She actually has to confront with herself what is wrong and maybe come to terms with the fact that it could be her.”
When it comes to Nora, she dives more into her rebellious side as a double agent. “Nora's always had this rebellious streak in her and that's one of the qualities I really love about her. This season I think the change is why she's doing it and this time around feels more connected to something that is deeper for her and the kind of person that she wants to be. We really see her coming into her own embracing her power and and stepping into this leadership role,” Andy Allo shared. “She's always been someone that's like behind-the-scenes and like, ‘Oh no, I don't want anyone to know what what I'm doing.’ We really get to see her step in and take the reins in a lot of ways, which was fun to do.”
Robbie Amell opens up about where Nathan is at the start of season 2. “He wanted to say I love you back, but ran out of data and here comes Ingrid. He thought that he was finally going to break things off and try and start something new and everything came crashing down. The interesting thing is he's still worried about Nora. He still loves Nora and he wants to find her and in order to do that he needs to kind of use Ingrid a little bit and live with Ingrid. Then as it comes to be that Nora doesn't want to be found, life kind of keeps moving forward, and he has to start thinking about this,” Amell shared with me. “[It’s] like, well, Ingrid uploaded for me, that's a big sacrifice. That means something. Maybe there is something there, like I used to love her and maybe uploading will do the same thing to her that it did to him. It'll help her grow up a little, help her realize what's important in life… or maybe it won't.”
While the characters are dealing with their own ups and downs, the writers worked to expand the world and technology of Upload even further. “The Horizon company is coming out with weird new products and the characters are growing. We're leaning into the second season [exploring] the strengths that we've identified in the first season,” said creator Greg Daniels. He shared that the writers continually exchange the latest articles in futurism and tech advances to inform what they write about with a funny and unexpected twist. “We want it to be super fun for people watching it today as they are assaulted with constant new technology being advertised as being amazing. It's good to have a slight skepticism. I know people are going to look at the show in 20 years. It may be that they look back and they go, ‘Well, they got everything wrong those idiots,’ but hopefully they'll enjoy the the character dynamics and and not worry so much.”
“We feel like the world is copying our show,” said Zainab Johnson, which feels especially true after seeing that the real world Metaverse company Horizon shares a name with the show’s tech company. Kevin Bigley co-signed, sharing: “What's funny about it today is that it's all like borderline idiocracy when it comes to Upload. It's not utopian, it's not dystopian, it's somewhere in the middle, which makes it feel like a reality. I think it’s purposeful and interesting that Greg and the writers have done that, but also it feels like technology is ushered in with little understanding of what it does and people just kind of willfully dismiss it [and] what it's capable of doing and I think [with] Upload you see how bad that can get.”
Upload season 2 is streaming now on Prime Video.
