First full trailer for The Purge Season 2 asks is it ever 'really over'?

USA has just unveiled its first in-depth look at the upcoming second season of The Purge, and it looks as though the show may have turned the corner toward an interesting new way to tap into the episodic appeal of its small-screen format.

Picking up the action right as Purge night is at its peak, Season 2 promises to stick around until morning and beyond, tracking all the post-sunrise aftermath — as well as all the year-long vendettas that the single night of legalized mayhem hatches. 

“Season 2 explores how a single Purge night affects the lives of four interconnected characters over the course of the ensuing year, all inevitably leading up to the next Purge,” USA teases. Check out the first Season 2 trailer below, which features previews from franchise creator James DeMonaco as well as executive producer Jason Blum:

Setting up the new season with a simple premise — “When day breaks, is the Purge really over?” — DeMonaco says the idea for Season 2 is to explore how human nature isn’t exactly geared to cooperate with the clockwork calendar timing of full-scale legalized revenge, but only 12 hours at a time, and only one time each year.

“What makes Season 2 very unique is that we start with two hours left in the Purge, which we’ve never done before,” DeMonaco explains. “And then we follow the repercussions of that Purge for the next 12 months, leading to the next Purge.”

That means diving into the lives of characters like Marcus Moore (Derek Luke) during the other 364 days of the year that people aren’t allowed to maraud murderously through the streets. While what happens on Purge night is supposed to stay buried with Purge night, it turns out that actually surviving a Purge attempt has a funny way of sticking with you. “I want to know who almost purged me!” Marcus says in the clip, setting up what might just be a season-long quest to find the answer.

Starring Luke (Spartan, Captain America: The Fist Avenger), along with Max Martini (Pacific Rim), Paola Nuñez (Bad Boys for Life), Chelle Ramos (Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger), and Joel Allen (Never Goin' Back), The Purge is set to terrorize USA Network (a property of NBC Universal and its parent company, Comcast, which also owns SYFY WIRE) when the Season 2 premiere arrives at 9 p.m. ET on Oct. 15.