Appearing from nowhere without any promotional efforts, the OA was a weird experiment from Netflix to just drop a show into it’s line up and see what happened. As people tuned in to scroll through their library, they’d stumble upon the supernatural sci fi mystery and as a young girl who’d been missing for years sat a group of strangers down to tell them her story, viewers were captivated by the weird tale of finding the space between life and death.
After being missing for years, Prairie returned home a completely different person. She was seasoned, tough, and despite being blind when she vanished, she could now see perfectly. It’s hard to get into specifics without spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t seen the mystery, but as she returns to her home town under the careful supervision of her parents, Prairie begins to have an effect on the people around her, drawing in a group of wildly different individuals as she tells them the secrets to her upbringing, who she was before her parents adopted her and how her quest to find her real father landed her in the private prison of a mad scientist hoping to gain access to a dimension beyond our living realm; a dimension she had already visited and long forgotten.
The story is complicated, to say the least. It’s got a bit of everything. Crime. Drama. Teenage struggle. Adults finding their path. Interpretative dance. In fact, it’s just the weirdest combination of things that delve into the philosophical curiousities of the supernatural whilst delving into how far science will go to unlock the key to all those metaphysical questions of our world; all bound by a stellar cast including it’s lead and co-creator Brit Marling and the curious captor Jason Isaacs.
Aside from it’s compelling story telling and chilling mysteries, co-star Jason Isaacs emphasised it’s brilliance came in it’s promotion, or lack thereof. “Just to commission something like this in the first place, which is ballsy, but to decide not to tell people about it.” He mentioned back in 2016, commenting on the lack of promotion or even a trailer “So much of the joy is having the story unfold to you but not knowing where it’s going.”
The mystery of the first season was a slow drip that, while seemingly confused at times, turned out to all lead to a Donnie Darko-ish conclusion where all that confusion and the open questions lead to a point of clarity where suddenly it all makes sense. But then, that clarity also brought with it a cliffhanger that made sure those who found the show wanted more.
This time round there is a trailer. Or at least, a teaser. But there may well not have been as they’ve made a point of making a confusing snippet of information that tells you practically nothing on purpose other to remind you it’s been commissioned for a second run. Cast and crew have confirmed filming has been happening, with Isaacs briefly commenting on twitter that his portion was complete while Marling gave slightly more detailed updates about their shooting schedule but would then be vague about when we’d see the second instalment.
Leaning on the mysterious nature of the show, Marling would comment on twitter that the OA doesn’t work the way normal TV series do, highlighting that there is no pattern to their schedule or their style; everything is different in tone and even budget. “As a result, at every step along the way nothing can be imitated, it has to be invented.”
To her and her team, this is a new kind of storytelling. And Netflix to their credit are keeping in line with inventing something new. There’s no scheduled date for the second seasons release, no hype machine ready to tell us when it’ll be there. We can expect it some point in the first quarter of 2019. We can hope. But in reality, one day it will just arrive without warning.
The OA Season 2 will launch on Netflix from Friday March 22nd.
This article was originally published in it’s full form in SFCQ2 Comms Discover More Edition published January 2019. Members can read the full review by logging into Comms or by downloading their latest copy. If you’re not a member and want to read more or enjoy more of our membership benefits, you can enlist today for free!
About the author
[Ships of the Line] The Excelsior II
When it comes to exploring the final frontier, Starfleet has been widely experimental in it's design philosophy and thanks to a galaxy rich with resources – and possibly, yeah, overcoming capitalist ideals – is never shy on supplies to try out new ideas or unload a whole new line of ships for specific mission types or general experimentation. Still, while designs and ideas rotate on a regular basis to bring the specialist ships such as the Protostar or Defiant Classes, the core fleet is always held together with standard builds that can last for decades. In approaching a rebuild of the fleet to incorporate new ideas, new technologies, and new lessons learned from an ever increasing range of new and more powerful enemies to Federation ideals, Starfleet's engineers sometimes go back to the well and lean on old classics that […]
A Fistful of SNW Episodes to Rewatch Before Season 3.
In just a matter of weeks we'll be off to venture more Strange New Worlds as Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew return for their third season. Last we left them, the crew were in the middle of a Gorn crisis as a personal mission that could risk all out war resulted in the crew being split in two with half safe and sound on the Enterprise with the others in enemy hands with Pike left to decide what happens next as all odds are against them. It's been a long wait since seeing Pikee staring into space trying to decide on the next move. Especially with writers strikes pushing back filming. But now we're almost there, we've picked out some key episodes to rewatch ahead of the launch! Hegemony (S2E10) May be an obvious one, but with Season 3 […]
What If…. there was no Next Generation?
On the announcement of a new Star Trek show there was a lot of pushback. Most were excited at the idea of a new era, but some felt a new rehash of the concept was a mistake. It'll never work. The dynamics weren't right. They'd missed the point of what Star Trek was. It wasn't in the spirit of what came before. The casting was wrong, none of the new cast seemed likable It was doomed before it even began. And no, this wasn't Discovery. Nor the series of films introducing an alternate reality that played on the idea of Kirk and Spock fulfilling their destiny despite their radically changed origins. This was 1987 before the Star Trek Universe even existed. As of now (June 2025), Star Trek as an overall franchise consists of 818 episodes of live action over […]
The Final Frontier for Strange New Worlds & A Legend Revived! Across the Universe June 2025!
As we wait impatiently for the launch of Strange New Worlds third season, and the resolution to the dramatic cliff-hanger that saw the Enterprise crew separated in a battle against the Gorn, Paramount has given the bittersweet news that the series end is in sight by announcing earlier this month that it's fifth season would be it's last. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwqPH7UhKYI In a joint statement, the executive producers – Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers – focused on the adventures to come whilst being thankful for the journey so far. “ “We’re deeply grateful to Paramount+ for the chance to complete our five-season mission, just as we envisioned it, alongside our extraordinary cast and crew. And to the passionate fans who’ve boldly joined us on this journey.” Some time and a couple of Hollywood strikes ago, SNW's third and fourth […]
[Retro Review] Timeless. Voyager S5E06
Voyagers mission was to find a way home. And Harry Kim found one. Using found slipstream technology as well as time sensitive components to make it work, Kim proposes a risky plan to build the drive and race the crew home. When his space bestie Tom points out it's a stupid plan due to variables they haven't been able to counter, Captain Janeway give sit the rubber stamp anyway on the condition Chakotay fly ahead in the Delta Flyer with Kim so they can feed back course corrections so Voyager doesn't explode. Thankfully, it doesn't explode. Yet fifteen years later, Chakotay and Kim are the sole survivors of the mission; the Flyer being small enough to navigate the slipstream variances while Voyager was thrown out of the stream and crash landed on an ice planet, killing the entire crew. Now […]
Meet The Fleet Support: Final Positions Confirmed.
For anyone who'd missed it in previous Fleet Alerts or announcements; one of our main goals in 2025 was to build a new support team for Q2. Since our mass fleet redevelopment ten years ago, we've seen things changes, people come and go and the entire landscape of humanity shift twice while the franchise that brought us all here to begin with grew and evolved multiple times. Enter Fleet Support. At it's heart, SFCQ2’s Fleet Support division has been designed to aid and supplement membership opportunities and solidify a helpful, informative and supportive structure. Each role acts as a secondment to allow members to continue to be an active part of their unit while representing and supporting the fleet at an ‘HQ’ level. While we figured out two of the five positions fairly quickly, the two roles we've been most […]
Related
[Sci Fi Sunday] Quantum Leap Season 2 on Paramount+
Returning to an old classic can be a mixed bag. Especially when the ideas a revival of a cult classic without any of the original stars returning. Quantum Leap was one of several of those shows to dip back into an old idea and give it a new life to modern audiences and in it's first season it was a surprise hit thanks in part to being a next chapter for the government funded time travel project that mixed the old theme with new ideas.
[Sci Fi Sunday] Twenty Years Waiting in the Winchester: Shaun Of The Dead
Back in the 90s we'd learn all about the cool, wacky lives of 20-something's through the adventures of a mysteriously close group of Friends; following the will they-won't they off Ross and Rachael, Joey's zany antics.... it was an ideal life filled with drama, joy, laughs and coffee!
[Retro Review] Everybody’s Dead, Dave. Red Dwarf (1988)
Some people have lofty ambitions. Become rich, famous, the best in your field. Others just want something simple. Like buying a small farm, getting a sheep and a cow and breeding horses. Red Dwarf was the story of the man with the simple dream. There's just one problem. Everybody's dead.
Sci Fi Sunday: The Matrix 20 Years Later…
Most people have had moments where they doubt their surroundings. Where they look all around them and wonder what they feel, what they experience is actually real. Or if it's all an illusion. What would we do if we learned that everything we know was a lie. The world we knew may not be perfect, but it's stable, reliable. Imagine being told that underneath that it was an illusion masking a future where the world was in ruins, where no hope was left? Sci Fi Sunday: The Matrix 20 Years Later... That was the basis of the Matrix. A films where the protagonist, Neo, was given a choice. Take a blue pill and return to his average, normal and safe life within a digital reality, or take the red pill and awaken from a slumber he never knew […]
Sci Fi Sunday: New Blade Runner Series In Development (Comms Highlights)
Back in 2017 we were introduced to Officer K as he began to uncover a long buried secret and revived the world of Blade Runner. In a world of tired reboots and sequels, Blade Runner 2049 was \ refreshingly worthy update to the original that brought something new whilst advancing the building blocks laid by the original. Following it's success, the on screen mythology of the Philip K Dick adaption is about to receive another expansion with an animated prequel series in the works. Taking place in 2032, the as yet untitled Blade Runner series will consist of 13 half hour episodes aired through Adult Swim in partnership with Crunchyroll and Alcon Television. The series is said to feature some pre-established chatacters earlier in their lives and take inspiration from the visual cues of the 2049 sequel. “I first saw […]
Star Trek Horizon Sequel Cancelled
In the latest edition of Comms, we had a small plug for Star Trek: Horizons and we had scheduled a supplemental update regarding a recently announced sequel as soon as the kickstarter went live this weekend. Unfortunately the sequel will not be going ahead as planned as Horizon producer Tommy Kraft announced that there will be no more Horizon after contact with CBS. Late last year CBS/Paramount issued legal action against another fan film and it's producer after raising more than a million dollars to fund their project as a full time gig. With that legal dispute ongoing CBS has reached out to Kraft before Horizon's sequel, Federation Rising, could launch it's $250,000 kickstarter goal. Kraft posted the news on the Star Trek Horizon Facebook page; Earlier today, executives from CBS reached out to me and advised me that their […]
