Season 2 snippets

[SoCal]

So it looks like Joe didn't die at the end of season 1. Hmmmmmm.....

Joe Carroll lives!
James Purefoy will return to The Following for Season 2, it was announced at the show’s Comic-Con panel on Friday.
RELATED | The Following Season 2 Spoilers — Natalie Zea to Return
The news was revealed to a shocked Ballroom 20 crowd — the actor wasn’t part of the original line-up for the session — when Purefoy called star Kevin Bacon mid-panel and then appeared on stage as a surprise guest.
Purefoy’s professor/cult leader/serial killer was last seen getting seemingly blown to smithereens in the Season 1 finale’s fiery boathouse explosion. His remains were later identified via dental records and DNA, but we suppose someone as clever as Joe could fake those.
“Yeah, I guess he might be alive,” said series creator Kevin Williamson. “I don’t want to give too much else away, except to say Joe Carroll will figure into next season.”
RELATED | The Following EP on Joe’s Fate, That Killer Cliffhanger and a ‘Very Different’ Season 2
Among the panel’s other revelations:
JUMP JUMP | Fans at the panel saw a continuation of Season 1′s final scene; in it, Molly repeatedly, brutally (fatally?) stabs Claire and Ryan snaps the follower’s neck then sobs over his true love’s seemingly lifeless body. Season 2 will kick off with that footage, then will jump ahead one year. The show will then become more of a “character-driven thriller as opposed to a FBI chase,” shared Williamson. And what happened in that year will affect Hardy and co. greatly. “We have the opportunity to look at what happened to those characters,” added Bacon. “Everyone is in a very different place in their lives. Ryan seems lighter and more at peace than you’ve ever seen him in the show. He’s finally been able to find something in his life that [takes him] away from all the killing and the violence.” Hmm, does that mean Claire’s not a goner? Also, expect to see lots of new characters, good and bad. (With this show’s death count, how could you not?)
JOE’S NEW REALITY | Williamson did offer up this tantalizing Joe tease: “[He] may need to reimagine who he is as a man and a killer. That Edgar Allen Poe stuff didn’t work out so well, so he’s going to have to figure out a new way.” The creator also hinted that viewers will see flashbacks to Joe’s past, exploring the questions of “How did this man become this way? What happened in his past? Where were the seeds of evil planted?”
THE STUDENT BECOMES THE TEACHER? | As for what Joe’s “absence” means for his disciple Emma, “she’ll have to learn how to live without that protection and motivation from Joe Carroll,” mused Valorie Curry, hinting that “Maybe she’s met some new friends. I’m curious to see what becomes of her when she’s left to her own devices.” And of course, Emma “lives in hope, as always” that her mentor will reappear. But in the meantime, is she the new Joe Carroll? “Nobody could ever replace Joe Carroll,” the actress replied.
BROTHERS IN ARMS | Look for Mike and Ryan’s relationship to show significant change in the new episodes. Williamson noted that he’s excited to see “what that horrific first season has done” to the partners/friends. As Shawn Ashmore noted, “Hardy and Weston kidnapped and basically killed a detainee in handcuffs. There certainly will be repercussions for that moving forward.”

[AntiArbitrator]

It might seen like a brand new show after they close loose ends in the first episode.

Emma played her role very well because I still despise her.

[SoCal]

I want to kill her!

Please, please, oh please let her get killed in the first episode. I HATE her character.

[AntiArbitrator]

FOX also announced the return of creepy serial killer drama "The Following," which will make its way back to the schedule following the "Sleepy Hollow" finale on Monday, Jan. 20 at 9 p.m. ET and run for 15 uninterrupted weeks.

Courtesy of Zap2It

[AntiArbitrator]

Previous information indicated the show would resume January 20, but the following article indicates
"airing Sunday, Jan. 19 immediately after the NFC Championship Game (approx. 10:30 p.m. ET) on FOX."

S2 SPOILERS The Following

After the (literally) explosive Season 1 finale of "The Following," fans were left gasping along with Agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) who was lying on the floor of his apartment, stabbed by his neighbor -- who was actually a follower of Joe Carroll (James Purefoy). When Season 2 picks up, despite a year time jump, fans will finally get an answer to what happened to Ryan and Claire (Natalie Zea), who was stabbed as well.

While we can't reveal whether or not both Ryan and Claire make it through the stabbing unscathed (well, obviously Ryan does based on the fact that he's the main character of Season 2), we can reveal that a year later, Ryan has appeared to move on with his life. He's a professor who has crafted what seems to be a healthy life. He's working out, he's living in a new apartment, has weekly dinners with his niece, is back on the sobriety wagon after a brief time off ... but underneath that facade is a man obsessed with exacting revenge on Joe and his followers for ruining his life.

When Joe's remaining followers commit a grisly mass murder on the one year anniversary of Joe's death, Ryan is pulled once again into the world of the FBI ... but will he keep up his facade of being done with Joe and his followers, or will he join up with the task force again?

And is Joe really dead? It certainly doesn't seem that way from the Season 2 premiere photos ... but the Joe lookalike pictured is actually a follower wearing a scary good mask. The answer of the real Joe's fate will be given once and for all in the premiere, "Resurrection."

blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2013/12/the-following-season-2-spoilers-and-first-look-photos-is-joe-carroll-really-dead.html





January 19, 2014

[SoCal]

From the NBC news site:


'The Following' star: Carroll will be 'even more vicious' with Hardy
Tara Bennett TODAY contributor Facebook


Fox
He's back! Viewers thought James Purefoy's malicious Joe Carroll died in the season one finale, but he survived. James Purefoy mesmerized audiences last year on "The Following" with his Svengali-like villain, Joe Carroll, who collected equally dark souls to do his nasty bidding. Carroll was so charismatic, the character is back for the second season of Fox’s drama even though it looked like he was blown up in a boat house as Kevin Bacon’s dogged Ryan Hardy watched grimly.


“It would obviously be a very short TV series if I wasn’t (back). That’s the trouble,” Purefoy told TODAY about his not-so-unexpected return. “You want it to almost feel like he’s going to get caught, or he’s going to die, or something is going to happen. But the viewers like that he gets away.”

With Carroll back and the killer and Hardy doing their dance of mutual loathing, "The Following" might seem like the same show, but creator and executive producer Kevin Williamson said otherwise. During a conference call with reporters, he said he thinks season two returns as a "different" show.

“The entire show has reset, but it’s also pushed forward a year. I think the biggest difference is it’s not such an FBI chase, in the sense that Ryan Hardy’s not a consultant smack in the center of an FBI task force," Williamson said. "This story is told from a different starting place. It’s a little bit more of a character thriller and a relationship thriller.”

Purefoy teased that when the show picks up, Carroll is back in the position of waiting to toy with Hardy. And it's not going to be a pleasant season for the former FBI agent who took away everything Carroll was working toward.

“Joe’s already spent 10 years in prison hatching the plan to begin with, so he’s quite capable of seeing the long game," Purefoy said of his character's past. "He’ll wait until Ryan really thinks he’s back on the straight and narrow and his life is falling into place for once before hammering him with the news (Joe) is alive. In a way, it’s even more vicious."

Could Carroll really be more diabolical than he was in the show's freshman season? Perhaps. After all, as the actor points out, the character isn't exactly the same guy anymore.

"Joe's used this time this year to reevaluate himself," Purefoy said of the period between seasons when the world thought Carroll was dead. "In the first few episodes, he’s gone into a chrysalis stage of his life. But he will get born again and the butterfly will come out."

Some of the change will include figuring out how to move on from his previous misguided goals. Obviously, writing wasn't his strong suit, and there was no loving family to reunite with. So what's left?

"He’s good at teaching. He’s good at manipulating people. He’s quite an expert at killing people. With all those three things put together, he’s got to try and find a way to use those skills to move himself on," Purefoy said.

Carroll also has to reassert his presence with his leftover followers, and Purefoy said audiences may be surprised at his character’s strategy.

“Joe is a really smart man but he takes a certain amount of pleasure living off his wits. It’s one of the things you will see him doing. He’ll be evaluating these other (followers) and working out ways to quietly manipulate them. Some of the people on the set say to me, 'I don’t like the way Joe plays his status.' Or, 'It seems like he’s being bullied.'”

But Joe Carroll is too devious for that.

"Don’t ever think Joe is being bullied because if he’s being bullied, he allowing himself to be bullied by others for a reason,” the actor said. With that signature, wicked tone in his voice, Purefoy purred in conclusion, “He makes it seem like he has no power to gain ultimate power.”

Season two of "The Following" premieres Sunday, Jan. 19 at 9 p.m. on Fox.

[AntiArbitrator]

SoCal Good write-up.

Some of the change will include figuring out how to move on from his previous misguided goals. Obviously, writing wasn't his strong suit...

Joe would become  manic when people criticised his writing skills. 

"Don’t ever think Joe is being bullied because if he’s being bullied, he allowing himself to be bullied by others for a reason,” the actor said. With that signature, wicked tone in his voice, Purefoy purred in conclusion, “He makes it seem like he has no power to gain ultimate power.”

I appreciate the heads-up on that because I would be disappointed if Joe became a push-over.

[SoCal]

Anti, what I want to know is how Joe escaped from the inferno. Also, did his estranged wife die from the knife wound? Obviously Ryan has recovered.

[AntiArbitrator]

SoCal, I noticed they have carefully avoided talking about Joe's wife so that remains a mystery.

I guess they will give us either a flashback of how Joe escaped ~ like a backdraft blew him into the water ~ or something complicated that I will not understand.

[SoCal]

Anti, just saw this on the "Buddy TV" website. At least we will find out some answers to some of our questions:

At the FOX Winter TCA Press Tour, The Following cast and Executive Producer Kevin Williamson spoke with reporters about the upcoming season 2.


Within the first few minutes, Claire's fate will be revealed and then the story takes a one year time jump. In addition, what happened to Joey will be explained in the premiere as well.


"I find it less violent than last year." teased Williamson, "It's a different show." After the time jump, Ryan's living in New York and no longer affiliated with the FBI. Williamson said there's a tone shift now that it's no longer an "FBI quest."

After the time jump, a group attacks a subway car of people wearing "Joe Carroll" masks. That sets the tone for the season. "A lot of us have these masks that we are living," said Kevin Bacon.


Did Joe Carroll die? Spoiler Alert! No, Joe's most certainly still alive. James Purefoy apologized, "I''m sorry I was lying to everybody." He always knew that Joe survived the fire and blast, so he had no doubt about his return for season 2.


The main carryover from season 1 to season 2 is the core relationship between Ryan Hardy and Joe Carroll. Bacon said that this season it appears that Ryan's lost his obsession with Joe, "but nothing is as it seems."


"Sadly he's the most important thing in [Ryan's] life," said Bacon.


The Following season 2 premieres on January 19 at 9 pm ET.

[AntiArbitrator]

So...Purefoy is sorry he lied to his fans about being dead. SoCal, you and I assumed Joe survived even though it was farfetched considering the size of the blast.

With all due respect to Kevin Bacon, I think Purefoy made me eager to see each episode. I think they needed to bring him back or get someone just as good.

If Joe is the most important thing in Ryan's life, it sounds like his love did not survive.