David Farnor | On 15, Jun 2015

HBO has released a trailer for The Leftovers Season 2 – and it teases a whole new direction for the show.

Damon Lindelof’s series, based on the novel of the same name, introduced us to a world where a rapture-like event had happened – a supernatural occurrence in which 2 per cent of the globe’s population disappeared. Were they dead? Abducted? Taken up to heaven?

Lindelof, in true Lost fashion, resisted the urge to reveal any answers to the mystery, choosing instead to scrabble around in the soil with those left behind. The result was a surprisingly moving and gripping study of grief and guilt, with the best episodes devoted to its complex characters (the standouts being Christopher Eccleston’s priest and Carrie Coon’s widower with a job to help those remaining). All the while, Justin Theroux’s sheriff and his family attempted to move on with their lives, while rubbing up against a cult (led by a menacing Ann Dowd) dedicated to reminding people of their departed loved ones.

At its best, it was a resolutely human drama. At its worst, it padded out irrelevant subplots with no clear direction. It makes sense, therefore, that a second season would relocate away from our fictional US community of Mapleton to somewhere new – especially if the programme remains unsure about further commissions, keeping its runs relatively self-contained avoids any further audience frustration.

The brief teaser below presents the Texan town’s unique selling point: it’s somewhere where no one has departed at all. It’s a mystery that holds the potential for a very different exploration of the same interesting themes; the kind of mystery that sees hundreds of people queuing up to get the answers for themselves. With some cast members set to return, The Leftovers Season 2 certainly looks like it has a promising premise. Expect it in the UK this autumn, when it premieres in the US.

For more on The Leftovers, head this way for our reviews of Season 1.

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