LEGENDS: Panel, Season 2 Preview [TNT, NYCC 2015]

TNT’s Legends NYCC Panel, Season 2 screener & discussion. Clearly, there is nothing better than a first trip to the New York Comic Con to make a perpetual dead man feel alive. Sean Bean – an actor that has become almost as famous for having died in most every role, as for the roles, themselves – seemed a bit taken aback by the audience reception that he, and showrunner, Ken Biller, received from the Legends season 2 panel audience.

Introduced as having survived, for a change (something the audience appreciated), the actor spoke largely about his role & personal experiences, allowing Ken Biller to tackle matters pertaining to the show’s direction, history, and individual elements. Given the near reboot nature of the show, going into season 2, Ken Biller was as much selling ideas & reassuring fans, as fielding questions.

On the characters, themselves, he wanted to explore the psychological aspects to the series. Sean Bean’s character – introduced as Martin Odum, but now having to sort through a number of identities – naturally provides a lot to work with, in that regard; but there is now the question of how he has affected the psychology of a number of supporting characters.

Regarding the change in settings, direction, and tone, Ken had regarded the resolution to season 1, and figured the season 2 changes as a natural progression of events. The new multi-national aspect promises not only to be logically essential to the show’s mythology (London’s MI6 seeming a likely place to look into, when you discover you were supposedly British Intelligence), and faithful to the source material, but allows for the series to tap into real World events (Euro-Islamic tensions, hard feelings towards Russia, etc.).

The second season also introduces a parallel timeline element, where various characters are followed in different settings, at different periods, making for different people in each case. This will add something of an evolutionary puzzle to all characters involved. Lest you start to worry about Martin’s identity crisis getting too convoluted, Biller assured that his true character will be revealed by episode 10 of the second season.

Sean Bean, in the meantime, fielded questions like his combat training experience (he took it in stride – the experience, not the question), and his take on learning Russian – something he regarded as perhaps more difficult than the show’s physical demands. As it turns out, one of his earliest roles (the Sharpe’s series – recommended) was shot in the Crimea; so he has had some experience with Russian – but still not enough to make it an easy experience, for Legends. He seemed keen on the idea of his character not only taking greater stock in his psychological baggage, but also in the weight he has added to the peripheral cast. Of course, the question of his turn, as the head of the House of Stark, did come up; but that’s another story.

For what it’s worth, by the way, Sean Bean is still interested in catching up on Game of Thrones – well, beyond his bits, anyway.

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