Season 2 of Netflix’s horror-drama HEMLOCK GROVE is taking its show to a darker, deeper level. Season 1 may have been about introduced the characters who inhabit a town, over shadowed by the Godfrey Institute and its murky experiments, as well as being stalked by creatures of the night; but Season 2 is looking to shed some light on what is really going on with the Godfreys and the creatures that seem to surround them.
In a press interview from the set, new executive producer Chic Eglee revealed what themes and stories will be explored in Season 2, as well as the aftermath of the deaths and terror from Season 1.
Where does Season 2 pick-up in relation to Season 1?
CHIC: We’re suggesting a 3-month gap between the end of last season and this season. In scrutinizing, we have a person in our office who is dedicated to understanding the mythology of last season, to the degree the mythology is decipherable ’cause it got a little dense and sometimes contradictory, last season there was a big period, and I believe it was in the last episode, there was something like 7 months between when Shelley (Madeleine Martin) was shot and Letha (Penelope Mitchell) gave birth. So we kind of had to account for that in our storytelling.
The show seems like it has a bigger scope as far as where it is going in Season 2.
CHIC: My background is for pretty dense, adrenalized storytelling. So I think the different sensibility that is brought to the show this year is that I’ve always believed in, and it was finely-tuned in THE SHIELD, which is to put 15 lbs of story into a 5 lb bag. The other thing is we’re excavating very specifically each one of the characters, understanding what their arcs are over the course of the season and also what their arcs are within the episodes. It just means there is more story going on. We have an ensemble show and if you’re honoring each of the characters, that’s just a lot of story. There is an external element to the show that wasn’t there last season, what we call the “big bad” that provides a motor and engine for the show. I think we derive — well, I wouldn’t call it action. This is not really an action show. But there is certainly event.
There was a description of a grenade blowing up a jeep in one scene. That’s not exactly something that would have been seen in the first season. That didn’t exist in the world they had created. It seems like things are getting bigger.
CHIC: Well, if you piss people off, they will put a grenade in your car! To that extant, there is a larger scope. Things certainly exist beyond the confines, but everything takes place within the borders of HEMLOCK GROVE. But there are larger forces impinging on the place. So a bit of the outside world is being invited in. There is certainly more of that.
What can you reveal about the “big bad”?
CHIC: This year we do have that and for a very specific reason of propelling it with real motion.
The tone Season 1 was described as TWIN PEAKS with supernatural elements. What will the tone of this season be?
CHIC: The show this season is character based. It’s really anchored very specifically in each one of the dilemmas and choices that each character is confronted with. I’m much more interested in that than the high concept of the supernatural. I don’t happen to think this is a supernatural show. I don’t think there’s an element of magic at all in it. Upirs are not magical beings.
Will the loose ends from Season 1 be addressed in Season 2, like Sheriff Sworn (Aaron Douglas)?
CHIC: We talk about what happened to him. Last we saw he was building a bomb in his basement. The guy’s sitting there with batteries and a handful of plastique. It didn’t look to me like he knew too much what he was doing. So that would be a pretty dangerous situation to put yourself in.
What about the shot of Christina’s (Freya Tingley) grave?
CHIC: That will continue to be explored.
Will it be a self-contained story for the season? Will it feel like a bookended season?
CHIC: Absolutely. I’m a fan of satisfying an audience and I believe in completion — beginning, middle and end. There’s definitely an end to this season. 
To find out if there is hope for Roman (Bill Skarsgard) and Peter (Landon Liboiron) in their quests and if they can survive whatever big threat is headed their way, be sure to tune in on Friday, July 11th when the entire second season of HEMLOCK GROVE will be available for binge-viewing on Netflix.
(Editor’s note: Special thanks goes to Netflix which made this interview possible with a sponsored trip to the set of “Hemlock Grove.”)
Tiffany Vogt is the Senior West Coast Editor, contributing as a columnist and entertainment reporter to TheTVaddict.com. She has a great love for television and firmly believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored – she invites you to join her. Please feel free to contact Tiffany at Tiffany_Vogt_2000@yahoo.com or follow her at on Twitter (@TVWatchtower).