WAYWARD PINES Post-Mortem: Chad Hodge on Revealing Flashbacks, Kate’s Plan, and a Possible Season 2

[Warning: this post contains spoilers for the June 25th episode of WAYWARD PINES. Please do not read this interview until you’ve seen the hour.]

WAYWARD PINES dove into the bulk of the show’s mythology in its sixth episode, “Choices.” While episode five revealed the truth of the town — and the fact that it’s 4028 — “Choices” explored how Pilcher got to this point…and the missteps that occurred early on.

“This episode is really the origins,” WAYWARD PINES showrunner Chad Hodge explained. “There are some flashbacks that continue in [later episodes], but it’s less of the origins of Wayward Pines like episode 6 is. Episode 6 is the origin story and the behind the curtain to how David Pilcher built Wayward Pines. It’s a fascinating episode, I think, how this guy built this.”

“What I love is there’s no magic involved,” he continued. “I guess you could argue this is [a] sci-fi [show], in a way, but it’s not magic; the time travel isn’t time travel in the way you’d normally think of it. It’s all sort of grounded. The flashbacks after [this hour] tell how Carla Gugino came into Wayward Pines, you’ll see flashbacks of Nurse Pam.  But we don’t resurrect anyone else from the dead [in those flashbacks] like we do Terrence [Howard (Sheriff Pope)]. ”

In addition to Howard’s return being a fun surprise, it also allowed the actor — who was the only actor who didn’t want to know the truth about Wayward Pines going into production of the series — to discover what had been revealed since his character had been killed off.

“He was like, ‘Man, this is crazy!'” Hodge recalled. “He loved it. He’s such a fun guy, and such a ball to work with. I think he really loves the show.”

In the present on WAYWARD PINES, Pilcher’s lack of control over the situation will only escalate.

“He’s putting up a good fight, but I think what you’ll see is he’s not the perfect human being, he didn’t plan this perfectly,” Hodge teased. “He’s not a superhero; he may have seen himself that way. There are mistakes that were made, and there will be consequences. It’s tough. It’s tough to watch, it’s very intense.”

One of Pilcher’s most immediate problems going forward: Kate and Harold’s quest to get out.

“That is really such an intense part of the story,” Hodge said. “What I love about Kate Hewson is she has been playing along this entire time but with a plan to get out, like a smart Secret Service agent. What she realizes is not that she’s been wrong, but she didn’t know the complete truth. And the consequences of this are pretty crazy.”

As for the show’s future, WAYWARD PINES was sold as a limited event series — but the ratings have been impressive, making the idea of a second installment not totally out of the realm of possibility.

“Well, we haven’t gotten into serious discussions about that yet,” Hodge acknowledged. “It was always designed to be these ten episodes; there is a beginning, a middle, and an end [to the story]. And should there be a desire for a second season, of course, [the WAYWARD PINES book series author] Blake Crouch and I have talked a lot about where the stories could go after season 1 and the books he might write. There are ideas there, but it was designed as these ten episodes, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

–