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Eoin Macken unpacks Gavin's major revelation in 'La Brea' Season 1 and teases Season 2
Season 2 of La Brea premieres on Tuesday, Sep. 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern on NBC, and star Eoin Macken says to get excited.
The Season 1 finale of NBC's time-traveling action-drama La Brea gave us a lot of reveals as well as more than one cliffhanger. Eoin Macken’s character, Gavin Harris, got his fill of each. SYFY WIRE had the chance to talk with Macken about his character’s journey in Season 1, and he offered some hints as to what Gavin may go through in the upcoming second season.
Read on for that discussion, though be warned!
***Major spoilers for the first season of La Brea lie ahead!***
So let's talk about the end of Season 1 — we learned a lot about Gavin in the finale, specifically that he’s actually the young boy Isaiah in 10,000 B.C. This is a pretty major reveal — when did you know that secret yourself?
I did not know from the get-go. Something [showrunner David Applebaum] does, which is quite fun, is that we don't really know what's going on until we get the scripts because the characters don't really know what's happening either.
So the Isaiah-Gavin twist wasn't something I was aware of until maybe a couple of episodes before that, which was interesting because I as a character and as an individual didn't actually know why I was getting all these visions and so forth. When we got the scripts and I was found out I was like, “Okay, this makes sense.”
That revelation is obviously a big surprise for Gavin — how does your character process that knowledge in Season 2, especially since he’s back in 10,000 B.C?
It’s interesting because I met the young actor who plays Isaiah, his name is Diesel and he’s very sweet, and I only met him near the very end of Season 1 because we were on different shooting blocks and we were shooting during COVID. When I met him I said, “You're playing young Gavin and he goes, “No, you're playing old me.” I liked him, I liked the attitude.
But I think what's interesting is that when Gavin goes back to 10,000 BC, he feels more comfortable there because he grew up there as a kid. And there are elements of things that he remembers instinctively from growing up there and so he fits in a bit quicker than everyone else. There are little bits and pieces there in terms of how to survive that he remembers from his childhood.
David Applebaum said in an interview that Gavin’s journey in 10,000 BC from Seattle to Los Angeles is one of Season 2’s “big pleasures.” I don't know if your character would say the same thing, and I wonder if you could further tease what Gavin goes through on that journey.
I'm sure it was a big pleasure for everyone watching. [Laughs.] We had a tough time but it was great — we are surrounded by creatures and going through the forest was no picnic. I think what's most important, aside from the action-adventure part of it, is that Gavin's down there with his daughter with him and that heightens everything, including being surrounded by creatures.
I'm glad you mentioned creatures because the mastodon in the Season 1 finale was very impressive. I hope there are more mastodons in Season 2.
There's some very cool stuff like that in Season 2.
Great! And, I imagine for you as an actor, shooting in 10,000 BC was different than shooting in 2021, which was the time period Gavin was in for Season 1.
It was actually really liberating. I've always been a little bit jealous of everybody who got to play around in the forests and jungles of Australia. I dig all that because it just appeals to your childhood sensibility of being an adventurer in the forest and going into the unknown. So I mean, I got a kick out of it. It was definitely physically hard work and the weather was always a thing, but I honestly enjoyed it.
Were there any big stunts you had to do?
Oh yeah, we have a lot. And that's also what I enjoy, because last season was more cerebral and trying to figure out what was going on. So this season has a lot more action and adventure. And they've really upped the ante in terms of how big the creatures are and what they can do and so forth. Every episode has become very much like a proper action adventure, which I enjoy.
Another mystery that was dropped in Season 1 was that modern building we saw in 10,000 B.C. I know, you can't say anything about that explicitly, but is there anything like that level of reveal that we'll see in Season 2?
Yes. There are some massive new twists that go through this season, which — as I was saying — it becomes really fun because I really don’t know what's going to happen. We have maybe three episodes left to shoot, and I couldn't tell you what's going to happen in any of them. But there are three or four massive, big twists and turns that occur, especially in the first half of Season 2 that threw me for a loop.
Do you think fans will be satisfied with getting answers to the show’s existing mysteries as well?
I think they're actually going to be more than satisfied. The whole show this year just got bigger and grander, but all the twists have become more succinct and have become even more crazy and layered. I was really excited to be just reading the scripts this year, and it's been really exciting performing everything. So I think the fans are going to love it — I think La Brea last year was finding its feet as to what it was because it was still establishing how crazy the whole situation was. And now that that's sort of established, the show can really grow and expand, and that's incredibly exciting.
This interview was been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. La Brea returns for its second season on NBC Tuesday, Sep. 27 at 9 p.m. EST. New episodes will be available to exclusively stream on Peacock the day after they air.
Season 1 of La Brea is currently streaming on Peacock.
