‘Surface’ Bosses Tease What Could Happen Next in a Season 3 After Finale’s Death & Revelations

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Surface Season 2 finale “Unearthed.”]

It’s time for Sophie (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) — and the audience — to hopefully find out more about another part of her life, should Surface return for a third season.

The second ended with Sophie bringing news of where her mother’s body is buried — on the estate of the powerful Huntley family, after the wife of Sophie’s biological father shot her — to the police, after her former friend and (surprise this season!) sister Eliza (Millie Brady) realized. But the police told her there are warrants out for her arrest (under the alias Tess Caldwell), a shock to Sophie. Elsewhere in the finale, Quinn Huntley (Phil Dunster) and Grace (Freida Pinto) did get married, despite some of the questions she had about his family, and journalist Callum (Gavin Drea) chose to help Sophie and James (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) escape the cops.

Below, executive producers Veronica West and Lauren Neustadter break down the Season 2 finale and tease what we could see should the show be renewed. (Check out our deep dive of the finale with Mbatha-Raw here.)

When did you know how Sophie’s mother died and how did you settle on that?

Veronica West: It’s something that we worked on as a team in the writers’ room trying to find a suspect who we completely understood her motivations, but also felt unexpected for the audience. And I think Joely [Richardson] did such an amazing job bringing that conflict to life. I absolutely love the scene with her and Millie Brady at the end where she is explaining it with tears in her eyes and then just says, “Let’s go back to the party.” I think that really represents how she felt about what happened, like, “I’m not going to let it ruin my life,” even though it’s obviously a source of conflict for her.

Talk about having Eliza come to Sophie’s defense at the end and any struggles about that. How did you land on that?

West: You have to understand where she comes from and the emotional ties she has to her entire family. Basically by choosing Sophie and choosing that side, she’s risking losing the connections with everybody else she loves. So even though I think in her heart, Eliza knew what was right from the moment she found out, that’s why you see her spinning out [and] self-medicating. You see her so conflicted. I still think it’s a hard choice for that character to make and one that makes her an exciting character to continue to follow, what will happen in the aftermath of such a choice. It really is a cliffhanger for Eliza as well.

When Sophie walks into the police station, does she think she’s about to get the closure she’s been searching for with the information that could lead them to a mother’s body on the Huntley estate? Is she feeling maybe the most optimistic about getting that closure?

West: I think that she believes she has the smoking gun in a sense. She knows who did it. She knows where the body’s buried. That’s why the episode title is “Unearthed.” She really does have the proof that she needs, but she’s very much aware that she’s going to have to take responsibility for the crimes she knows she’s committed. Lucas is dead in a field somewhere. She’s sent James off on the run. She has stolen $8 million from the venture capital firm in San Francisco. She has faked her own death — which we have had many arguments in the writers’ room about whether that’s technically illegal or not, jury’s still out. Those are the things she knows she’s going to face.

She does not know that there is this host of other crimes that her past self has committed, and that was what was so exciting to us as a team, I think, looking forward to a potential Season 3, is we see Sophie is kind of really good at money laundering. She’s definitely good at identity theft. She has found these skills in the course of the two seasons we’ve watched, but where did she learn how to do this stuff?

At the end, she just looks so shocked because that’s the thing that you can play with because of the memory loss, is all the stuff that she doesn’t know. But how would you say Sophie is feeling when it comes to her future?

West: Absolutely shocked.

Lauren Neustadter: I think incredibly overwhelmed, right? She’s walking into that police station and feeling like this is the exhale that she has been waiting for, that she’s going in and it’s all going to be better. And it’s actually quite the opposite. So I think overwhelmed is the word that comes to mind for me, and she’s got another mountain to climb now and how is she going to get out of this one? We always really try to make sure that our audience and our fans are going to feel satisfied, but also on the edge of their seat about what might be coming next. And I think Veronica and our team did an amazing job of achieving that with the end of this season.

What can you say about those warrants and what’s next and how much people that we’ve already seen might be involved?

West: The clues are in the story we’ve told so far in realizing that Sophie can learn how to launder $8 million in crypto in six weeks. She obviously has some untapped skills that she wasn’t aware of, but what’s exciting to me about the show is that there are people around every corner that Sophie has had relationships with, that she has betrayed, that have betrayed her, that she doesn’t know yet, and that allows us to continue to reinvent the show every season. And in a potential Season 3, I’m just wondering, where was she from the moment she left Eliza in the Huntley estate to the moment we saw in 106 in the flashback when she met James? What were those eight years, and what men, women, family, who else could she have come into contact with?

How does Sophie feel about Eliza and James and how do they each feel about her at the end of the season? Those relationships are so complicated.

West: It’s messy for sure. I think she and James, at the end of this season, are probably more trusting of each other than they have ever been in our series so far. From the moment the pilot begins, Sophie’s unsure of her relationship with her husband. Now they’ve finally told each other the truth about everything but this horrible accident resulting in Lucas’s death has separated them again. So they become these star-crossed lovers in a way that really feels central to the show and we’ll probably bring them back together in some form or another.

And then with Sophie and Eliza sister dynamic, there’s so much to explore there.

West: It’s juicy. We know that Eliza has decided, in her mind and her heart, what’s right, but that doesn’t mean that she’s necessarily forgiven Sophie for everything she’s done. So I think the dynamic between them moving forward would absolutely be complicated and exciting and adversarial but still have this undercurrent of family, which is something they’ve never really known about before or been able to experience.

Neustadter: And I love that Eliza does the right thing in the finale. Millie Brady does such a wonderful job of playing this complicated character with all of these big emotions, and you can tell that she’s really trying to figure out what is the truth and what is her north star. And I think Veronica, again, and the team did an amazing job of sort of weaving all those complexities through the season, and you don’t really know what she’s going to do, and you don’t really know where her loyalties lie. And I think it’s so revelatory at the very of that finale when it picks up the phone and she calls Sophie. It’s just a really wonderful moment in the life of the series.

Is there a world in which Sophie would’ve left with James?

West: Absolutely. I think that’s what they wanted to do in their hearts by the end of this season. But there’s one thing that trumps that for Sophie, and that was getting justice for her mother and telling her own story. That trumped her own safety and her own ability to run from the crimes that she’s committed. And then she sits down and faces these warrants and such a bigger bomb than she ever expected to drop that I hope promises even bigger high stakes world for a potential Season 3.

Henry (Rupert Graves) killing his father (Julian Glover) — what went into that decision and how is he going to be coping with that? Because we see him take that moment and then he goes back into the party.

Neustadter: You didn’t see that coming!

West: Yeah, that was a pitch from Dan Lee West in the writers’ room, and it’s one of those pitches where you’re shocked, how could that possibly happen? How could we possibly see Henry kill his father? But it was something that Rupert and Julian were incredibly into from the beginning, and Julian actually wrote a couple of the lines that he says to Henry that really push him over the edge. He dug deep into villainous territory, which I was so grateful for, but it was something that surprised everyone and then also makes absolute sense. This decision that William made really ruined Henry’s life. I think there was an alternate timeline where Henry and Emma were together and they raised Sophie and had a different life, and Sophie grew up to be a different person with a lot less baggage.

Which lines did he write?

West: The meanest ones at the end, the last couple lines that he says that really pushes Henry over the edge about Sophie never being a real Huntley, which, it’s interesting as a writer to write villains and say things that are truly horrible that are things you would never think as a person or write. And it was interesting of Julian to just get so much in that character’s head that he was able to go so deep.

Why did Quinn and Grace go through with their wedding?

West: It all came down to that last conversation right before. I don’t think Grace was going to go through with it whatsoever. When Quinn told her, “You can’t trust James, you can’t trust Sophie, they’ve been using you. They lied to you and they knew who you were from the start, they were targeting you,” she says, “Oh my God, I was going to pick this side, but maybe the man standing in front of me, who I’ve been in love with, is the only person I can trust despite the fact that I know the things that he’s done,” and that I think makes her a Huntley, that acceptance of, I can be with someone who I acknowledge has done these horrible things. That’s what Olivia did, and that’s now what Grace is doing, following in those footsteps for better or worse.

Callum helped Sophie to great extent, and who knows what this means for his career? Does he regret anything that he did this season?

West: That’s a good question. I think what’s exciting about telling those stories about journalism is that they get to act as investigators, and telling the truth and finding out the truth and protecting the innocent is Callum’s moral code. So I think he would always have been willing to sacrifice himself, whether it was to save Sophie or Phoebe Davis or whoever the next person is, and that’s what makes him a compelling character to continue to follow.

How does he feel about Sophie? 

Neustadter: You certainly can tell that he cares deeply about her, and perhaps in another life they might’ve been together in some way. I think that the characters are woven so intricately in this show that you never know exactly what’s coming or what the relationship will be or how something will take an unexpected twist or turn. And because Sophie and James are so unbelievably connected, I think there isn’t room to explore that. But it doesn’t mean that there isn’t something that’s unrequited in Callum’s heart that informs the dynamic and his choice in the finale to ultimately look out for her. And I think he really does. He thinks about her and he cares about her. I think some of that is because he’s a deeply moral person, and probably some of it is because he has a feeling or two for her.

West: They definitely have chemistry. Never say never.

Can Sophie ever have any sort of relationship with Henry?

West: Wow. I think that Henry regrets everything that happened. I think he genuinely wishes things had gone different. And I think killing his father pretty much shows which lane he’s picked. So who knows, if she finds out that he wasn’t the one and how deeply he regrets his actions, I think there could be a path forward.

Does Quinn regret anything he did?

West: I think Quinn regrets everything he’s done. I think he’s constantly living in a loop of, which fork in the road should I have taken? He’s trapped in such a difficult situation, but Phil Dunster brings such life to that character and truly allows you to connect with him and understand his vulnerability even when he’s doing the most awful things. And that’s what makes the character so much fun to watch.

Neustadter: I also think it’s captured in those quiet moments in a way that makes the character incredibly interesting that I think the thing that we were very intentional about doing over the course of the season was seeing him in moments where he wasn’t managing other people, but he was really reconciling his own emotions and feelings. And I think that that’s a good glimpse into his character and how complicated things are for him emotionally.

Can he change? He is in that family…

Neustadter: I don’t know. I don’t think he can. What do you think Veronica?

West: Actually, I think when we met Quinn, yeah, maybe he partied a little, but he didn’t order anyone’s murder. I think it was sort of a red herring that he was the villain at the beginning and he actually wasn’t. And now through this season, he’s chosen that path, felt backed into a corner that that was his only choice. And now I think that promises a season of an even more unpredictable villainous Quinn. To me, that’s what would be exciting, is to see him double down and commit to the path he’s chosen and the consequences that it brings.

How are you both feeling about the chances of a third season?

Neustadter: Hopeful. I think this show has such a loyal fanbase and people who watch it love it so much. So I hope that we will have the chance to continue to tell the story. I think obviously what’s incredibly important is that the people who love it need to tell everybody else how great it is so that they can watch it. Because I think we are in a moment and in a landscape where there are so many choices when it comes to content, and it’s really just about sort of diving in and discovering it sooner than later because I do think everybody who finds it does love it and really wants more.

What could we see in a third season?

West: We’ve had the opportunity to think about it and to talk about it as a group and Gugu and I have collaborated, and there’s this missing chapter where Sophie learned these highly skilled criminal activities. That promises a relationship with somebody who probably still does those kind of criminal activities. And to get out of the situation that she’s found herself in, which is turned herself in for 15 warrants throughout the EU, she’s going to owe people some pretty big favors. So I think there’s a really fun, exciting, heightened story to tell in a potential Season 3, and I hope we get the chance to do it.

Would most or all of the cast be back?

West: I think there’s an opportunity to tell more story with absolutely everyone we’ve seen in Season 2, in Season 1. Sophie burns a lot of bridges, and there’s a lot of people out there who would love a face-to-face.

Surface, Season 2, Streaming Now, Apple TV+