Everything to Know About Season 2 of Prime Video’s ‘The Wilds’

Credit: Matt Klitscher/Amazon Studios

Everything to Know About Season 2 of Prime Video's 'The Wilds'

Back for more! Prime Video's The Wilds introduced viewers to a survival story that provided shocking twists and turns until the season 1 finale. The drama series follows a group of teenage girls who are left stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. The high school students don't know that they are subjects in a social experiment — until they are later rescued by the same people that put them in the situation. Season 1 focused on the girls' time on the island and in the bunker shortly after their rescue. The finale ended with Leah (Sarah Pidgeon) escaping from her room only to discover cameras on the island that showed a group of boys as the next subjects. Ahead of the sophomore season, producers Sarah Streicher and Amy B. Harris opened up about the message behind the shocking social experiment. “This is I think partially the way Sarah and I view the world, [but] we did think that probably Gretchen was right — that women at the bottom of it would find a way to build a community,” Harris told Variety in December 2020 of Gretchen Klein (Rachel Griffiths), the character in charge of the experiment. “Obviously we’re living in a very divided world right now and people are behind their computer screams trolling one another and screaming strong opinions and not listening to one another. What would happen if you pulled people out of that world — a Dot and Shelby who don’t have a ton in common, but are from the same place — would they start to see common ground? We felt like they would." She continued: "That is maybe a little bit of our hope: If you just put down your phones for five seconds and actually talk to someone else, you will see you actually have more similarities than differences. And their greatest similarity is the desire to survive.” Although the show had not yet been renewed, the writing team revealed that they always had a plan for the show's future. "I would say we have a very good blueprint, but are willing and open, once we start building the next portions of the house, to see different things come together. But yeah, we did not want to get into a position where we were like, 'Where do we go now? We've sort of written ourselves into corners,'" Harris told Collider that same month. "We've tried to kind of really build out a structure." Streicher, for her part, added: "Also though, we do have vignette ideas where each girl will land at the end of this. And that is important for keeping us on track, character-wise. And that was really fun to generate — the idea of where do they land, after this experience?" Scroll down for everything to know about season 2 of The Wilds: [podcast_block]

Credit: Matt Klitscher/Amazon Studios

Everything to Know About Season 2 of Prime Video's 'The Wilds'

Back for more! Prime Video's The Wilds introduced viewers to a survival story that provided shocking twists and turns until the season 1 finale. The drama series follows a group of teenage girls who are left stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. The high school students don't know that they are subjects in a social experiment — until they are later rescued by the same people that put them in the situation. Season 1 focused on the girls' time on the island and in the bunker shortly after their rescue. The finale ended with Leah (Sarah Pidgeon) escaping from her room only to discover cameras on the island that showed a group of boys as the next subjects. Ahead of the sophomore season, producers Sarah Streicher and Amy B. Harris opened up about the message behind the shocking social experiment. “This is I think partially the way Sarah and I view the world, [but] we did think that probably Gretchen was right — that women at the bottom of it would find a way to build a community,” Harris told Variety in December 2020 of Gretchen Klein (Rachel Griffiths), the character in charge of the experiment. “Obviously we’re living in a very divided world right now and people are behind their computer screams trolling one another and screaming strong opinions and not listening to one another. What would happen if you pulled people out of that world — a Dot and Shelby who don’t have a ton in common, but are from the same place — would they start to see common ground? We felt like they would." She continued: "That is maybe a little bit of our hope: If you just put down your phones for five seconds and actually talk to someone else, you will see you actually have more similarities than differences. And their greatest similarity is the desire to survive.” Although the show had not yet been renewed, the writing team revealed that they always had a plan for the show's future. "I would say we have a very good blueprint, but are willing and open, once we start building the next portions of the house, to see different things come together. But yeah, we did not want to get into a position where we were like, 'Where do we go now? We've sort of written ourselves into corners,'" Harris told Collider that same month. "We've tried to kind of really build out a structure." Streicher, for her part, added: "Also though, we do have vignette ideas where each girl will land at the end of this. And that is important for keeping us on track, character-wise. And that was really fun to generate — the idea of where do they land, after this experience?" Scroll down for everything to know about season 2 of The Wilds: [podcast_block]

Credit: Matt Klitscher/Amazon Studios

The Air Date

The second season will return to Prime Video on May 6, 2022.

The first look at season 2 showed the girls still stuck on the island during the month of July. There were also scenes of the boys as they find themselves unknowingly trapped in their own experiment.

Credit: Matt Klitscher/Amazon Studios

The Cast

Pidgeon, Sophia Ali, Jenna Clause, Reign Edwards, Mia Healey, Shannon Berry, Helena Howard and Erana James are all set to reprise their roles.

Credit: Prime Video/Instagram

Introducing the Boys

Season 2 of The Wilds will explore a group of boys who end up trapped on the island as part of the experiment. They are referred to as the Twilight of Adam in Gretchen's files.  

Zack Calderon, Aidan Laprete, Nicholas Coombe, Charles Alexander, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Reed Shannon, Tanner Ray Rook and Alex Fitzalan will be joining the cast.

Credit: Matt Klitscher/Amazon Studios

Questions That Still Need Answers

The season 1 finale set up the new group of test subjects as the girls continue to be stuck in the bunker. Shelby's faith was left up in the air after she shockingly suffered from an allergic reaction.

Leah's escape remains unknown as she pieces together what actually happened her over the past few months.

Fans also have questions about Martha and Nora's fate after they were both not present during the post-island interviews. Nora's identity as the operative could also be blown after she tried to trap Leah — only for her to escape at the end of the finale.  

Credit: Prime Studios

Nora's Location

After filming wrapped on season 1, Howard made headlines for some of her social media posts questioning the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York native later left viewers wondering whether she was able to travel to Australia to film the second season.

The season 2 trailer sparked more speculation when Nora was nowhere to be found. 

Credit: Courtesy Prime Video/YouTube

The Trailer

In April 2022, Prime Video dropped the season 2 trailer, which revealed that there were two islands all along. In the sneak peek, the girls start to sense another presence on the island as the boys adjust to their new reality after becoming stranded.

The clip ended with Leah finding herself face to face with one of the boys from the control group. 

Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video

Introducing the Boys in a Unique Way

In April 2022, Streicher and Harris recalled how the writers balanced the stories on two different islands.

"In the storytelling, we were careful about time management and story management, making sure that women's island is given the space and time it deserves because we do care about those women so much," Streicher exclusively told Us Weekly at the time, noting that they had set a "high bar" with the season 1 performances.

Harris, for her part, added, "It helped us that because Gretchen sees the boys as a counterpoint control group, you already knew what the plane crash looked like. So we were able to sort of speed through certain things that we'd spent a lot more time with the girls. So it allowed us to kind of, even when we were in the boys' stories, I think you were comparing a little bit. So that when you went back to the girls, there's one great scene where it's, like, sort of life and death for the boys and you go back to the girls and it's very idyllic."

The showrunner added: "We really got to explore the girls' emotional traumas and survival this season, which I think is very rewarding if you love those characters."

Credit: Courtesy of Amazon Studios

Bringing Bo to Life

While reflecting on Bo's story, Rook opened up about how he was able to explore different versions of the character throughout season 2.

"I remember early on talking about Bo's cleanliness. A big thing about Bo is that he's kind of a neat freak. He does everything in a very specific way. When you're on the island, he has a little bit less control so his hair is a bit more shabby," the actor told Us. "But when he's home [in flashbacks], he is super clean cut, everything's buttoned up, straight and you see him more in his very controlled environment."

Credit: Courtesy of Prime Video

Martha's Journey

"I really liked my experience with the character [in season 1]. Almost all of her scenes that she has with someone, it's someone being there for her. In season 2, she finally steps up to be someone who's there for other people that helped her," Clause teased to Us. "All of our strengths and all of our weaknesses are just passed around, but we're still able to progress through all that when it comes to dealing with our mental health."

Credit: Kane Skennar/Amazon Prime Video

A New Normal for the Girls

During an interview with Us, James opened up about getting to see Toni and the other girls slow down on the island in season 2.

"It was really amazing getting to see them experience a bit of joy. The young women really deserve that and share in a little bit of laughter. But I will say that they go on a lot more emotional and spiritual challenges," the actress hinted. "It is the fact that the threat comes more from inside rather than from these external forces. Seeing how they all sort of fair in that weather was really fun to explore."