‘The Passage’ Boss Talks the Finale Cliffhanger & a Possible Second Season
Finale
This is how the world ends: not with a bang but with a cliffhanger.
As the first season of Fox’s apocalyptic vampire epic The Passage comes to a close, a slew of virals — superhuman creatures who feast on blood — plot their escape while key characters race toward major turns.
“The first season [covers] the first third” of Justin Cronin’s 2010 novel that the series is based on, says showrunner Liz Heldens, adding that the two-hour finale will deliver “a lot of images people who love the book will recognize and really appreciate.”
Below, Heldens lays out the road map.
Killing Time
At the Project NOAH facility, blunt, tough Sister Lacey (Kecia Lewis) will join up with suicidal scientist Lear (Henry Ian Cusick) on his journey to the World Health Organization in hopes of devising a cure. Meanwhile, NOAH overseer Richards (Vincent Piazza) is in Vegas trying to keep the increasingly out-of-control Babcock (Brianne Howey) from claiming more victims. “I love it so much,” raves Heldens of the unexpected pairing of the Fed and the fiend.
Girl Power
As for Amy (Saniyya Sidney), the now-infected young heroine who is benefiting from the super-immunity upside of the virus, she is headed for the novel’s game-changing cabin-in-the-woods sequence with heroic protector Brad Wolgast (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and his ex-wife, Lila (Emmanuelle Chriqui). “They’re having this last family gathering and in a way, it’s Amy’s favorite time,” says Heldens. Good thing, because time is literally about to jump.
Saniyya Sidney and Mark-Paul Gosselaar in The Passage (Erika Doss / FOX)
Open Book
Heldens confirms that The Passage will echo its source material and leap ahead almost 100 years into a future overrun by telepathic bloodsuckers — should it be renewed. So, what does that mean for Gosselaar, whose ex–federal agent meets an ugly fate in Cronin’s thriller? “I’m going to find a way to keep Wolgast in the story,” says Heldens. “I know what the book does; [we’ll] do it a little differently.”
Gosselaar, meanwhile, remains tight-lipped about his fate: “I trust Liz” is all he’ll say.
The Passage, Season Finale, Monday, March 11, 8/7c, Fox
