'La Brea' showrunner promises more time jumps and expanded worlds in Season 2

If you thought Season 1 of La Brea was bonkers, the creator and cast want you to saddle up for Season 2! At today's NBC virtual Television Critics Association panel for the sophomore season of the series, creator, showrunner and executive producer,  David Appelbaum, and his cast got together to talk about the show's ever-growing ambitions. In fact the new season opens up even more time traveling as teens Josh (Jack Martin) and Riley (Veronica St. Clair) were yoinked into a portal and now find themselves far away from 10,000 B.C., in the 1980s. And father/daughter Gavin (Eoin Macken) and Izzy (Zyra Gorecki) are also in deep from their portal jump which did put them in 10,000 B.C., but in ancient Washington state thousands of miles away from the intended California. 

At yesterday's virtual Television Critics Association panel for the series, Appelbaum told reporters (including SYFY WIRE) that they always conceived of the series to grow and expand in surprising ways for both the characters and the audience. "We're just starting to uncover the mysteries of what this place is," he said. "[Universal Television and NBC] have been so supportive of me and the writers finding these different layers and elements of what this world is, what the characters are, and where the show can go. Ultimately, it's a show that has the potential to go into different time periods and to see different mysteries. In Season 2, we're just starting to unpeel, a few more layers of that."

RELATED: The new season of La Brea will stream exclusively on Peacock this fall.

Nicholas Gonzalez, who plays Levi in the series, said once the actors got the script that confirmed an '80s time jump was in the mix, they all happily accepted that La Brea as a series was not playing around. "The world splits open and you realize so many of the possibilities," he enthused. "And even then we just really didn't see what was coming. I think I could speak for all of us that nothing's predictable, that's for sure."

Martin agreed and said that in particular for his character, Josh, the time jump creates a situation where he and Riley have to mature, fast. "A great thing about these different time periods, too, is we get to throw these characters into different dynamics that you've never seen them in before," he said. "In the '80s, Josh and Riley are basically on their own. In the past, you've seen them just as pieces of their own families. But now, when it's the two of them, figuring out how to survive in this totally different circumstance, it changes everything. And you get a closer look at who these characters really are as people, which is really exciting to me."

And when it comes to that very long hike facing Gavin and Izzy, actress Zyra Gorecki said it's a crazy thing to even conceptualize with two legs much less one. "But Izzy is just a really hearty character," she said. "She has been through so much with her family, with her leg and everything. And she comes back and she's still a kind person. And she still continues to try everyday. It's super fun to see the difference in the Izzie/Gavin relationship this season versus last season. Last season, it was very much she was following him around like a lost puppy because this is the only person she has left, right? And this season, you really see her take control of who she is and really start to grow into herself."

La Brea Season 2 premieres Sept. 27 on NBC. Season 1 is currently streaming on Peacock!