La Brea’s cast and executive producers appeared virtually at Comic-Con Special Edition on Saturday to discuss the show which was recently renewed for a second season at NBC.
Amongst the panellists were stars Natalie Zea, Eoin Macken, Chiké Okonkwo, Jon Seda, and Nicholas Gonzalez; and co-showrunners David Appelbaum, Steven Lilien, and Bryan Wynbrandt.
The series is centred on a mother and son separated from father and daughter after a massive sinkhole mysteriously opens up in Los Angeles. The show gets its name from the real life La Brea tar pits in LA where a number of ancient fossils have been discovered.
The show has been a surprise hit and is currently the number 1 new show of the fall in the adults 18-49 demographic.
Creator and executive producer David Applebaum talked about the show having a really long gestation period. He said, “We started filming the pilot right before the pandemic and then we shut down. We had basically over a year of thinking and planning. We had a mini room of writers where we started developing the stories for the first part of the season and thinking about the arc of the season. That gestation period really allowed us to come up with all these great twists and turns in a way that a lot of network shows never really have the ability to do.”
Natalie Zea who plays ‘the mother’, Eve Harris teased her character’s priorities as the season progresses, especially as she continues to interact with Gonzalez’s Levi Delgado.
“I think she’s doing a lot of compartmentalizing,” she said. “I think at this point, survival has to be sort of number one on the list of things to do. And being horny has to be further down there or so. Weirdly, having to survive is a good distraction for her to be in denial about her personal life which is in shambles. She’s busy trying to save the world!”
Ahead of the show’s Season 1 finale, Seda teases what fans can expect to see from his character Dr Sam Velez and Sam’s daughter Riley (Veronica St. Clair).
“Everyone’s making their decision on whether they want to go or stay,” he said. “For whatever rhyme or reason, I think Sam and Riley are still holding onto that hope that they’re going to get back to their family. I think they make a solid decision together.”
Of the finale, Appelbaum added, “Without actually giving away what happens, this is a story about a family trying to reconnect emotionally and physically. They’re on that path in the finale but it won’t be easy.”
“They’re going to be separated in new and interesting ways,” he continued. “We’re going to be putting characters in different worlds moving into Season 2. There are going to be a lot of unexpected surprises that will happen at the end of the finale that is going to put our characters in a lot of different places. But also, we’re going to retain a lot of what we saw in Season 1. There are still going to be characters in the clearing trying to figure out how to survive down [there]. But one of the goals of the show for future seasons is to expand what the show can be.”
Having watched episode 9, Father and Son where a cow appeared, I can see how having the cast in different worlds would work. Scott mentioned that cows were not introduced into America until the 16th century so already there seems to be a blending of worlds. Now that Gavin (Eoin Macken) has the map showing where the different sinkholes will appear things are obviously going to get even more interesting.
La Brea‘s Season 1 finale airs on Tuesday, 30 November at 9pm.
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