From Dusk Till Dawn Cast Reflects on Season 2 and Talks Season 3 at Finale Party
This week saw Season 2 of El Rey Network’s “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series” come to a close with an explosive finale filled with killer gore and kick-ass action. With the season-long arcs involving a map to an ancient blood well and multiple quests for vengeance and redemption coming to a close in the Robert Rodriguez-directed episode, “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series” has solidified itself as a truly engaging and creative slice of genre television all on its own.
While sticking relatively close to its source material during Season 1, Season 2 saw the show delve deeper into its mythology and characters that were given new life as the plot began to deviate from the film’s finale. The result has been exciting, nuanced, and always entertaining, with notably stellar performances from all sides here. Needless to say, even viewers who aren’t particularly huge fans of Rodriguez’s cult hit film are likely to find someone to root for as the “From Dusk Till Dawn” universe vastly continues to expand.
Hot on the heels of the third season renewal announcement for the series, Dread Central had a chance to sit down with D.J. Cotrona (Seth Gecko), Zane Holtz (Richie Gecko), Eiza González (Santánico Pandemonium), Jesse Garcia (Freddie Gonzalez), Madison Davenport (Kate Fuller), and Jake Busey (Aidan “Sex Machine” Tanner) at the Season 2 finale party hosted by Troublemaker Studios and Time Warner Cable. Here are some highlights from our chat with the cast as they reflected on Season 2, what sets the show apart, and what they hope to see come in Season 3!
In addition, at the end of the interview we have a look at a seven-minute extended clip of the high-octane Season 2 finale including plenty of ass-kicking and music by Robert Rodriguez and his band, Chingon! Shot like a musical number, Rodriguez and Chingon composed the music specifically to accompany the climax that has your favorite culebras and outlaws battling in this all-out war between good and evil.
On the show’s new additions…
Some of the most notable changes this season came via a handful of memorable character stints from the likes of Rodriguez favorites Danny Trejo and Jeff Fahey, plus Briana Evigan (Sorority Row), Esai Morales (“Criminal Minds,” La Bamba), and even pop star Demi Lovato. Though many of the new faces didn’t make it through the entire season, they certainly left their mark on the core cast. “[Esai Morales] is very inspiring, very disciplined,” González gushed. “I think everyone who walked into this season was just on-point and really gave something special to the show… It was so beautiful to see that [the new cast] didn’t want to go. They were like, ‘Do I have to die?’ and [the creators] were like, ‘Yes, you do… not everyone in the show can be vampires!’ … Everyone did an amazing job and we were very thankful of it and I think fans loved it as well.”
On this season’s character arcs…
While Season 2 saw many of the show’s characters go through dark times — including addiction battles, betrayal, and, of course, death — not all of the actors were initially on board with their arcs in this “official sequel” to Rodriguez’s film… including the show’s lead. “When I started reading how [the writers] were gonna take Seth into a very dark, heroin-filled place, originally I thought that was too much for the character,” Controna admitted. “I always thought of him as a control freak and never thought he would let go that much, but once we started to explore it… I thought it added a cool color and shade to the character that was unexpected and that nobody had seen.”
On fan “shipping” culture…
There are some very interesting comments that have been popping up on the show’s social media fan pages — particularly from a few younger fans who are trying to will a Seth and Kate relationship into existence. “We laugh when we read those things,” said Cotrona of this odd character shipping campaign by a handful of fans. He also reasoned, “Look… when you take these two diametrically opposed characters, your brain can go anywhere… some people watch it and they like the Bonnie & Clyde aspect… based on whatever you’re a fan of, there’s a little element in [Seth and Kate’s] relationship for you, and certain people kind of hone in on one that we all find very funny.”
On powerful women…
Season 2 arguably brought its lead actresses into the forefront stronger than ever, as Santánico and Kate’s stories grew more emotionally complex. The show’s actresses particularly pride themselves on being part of a series that focuses on these crucial points of character growth over catty drama between its female leads for the sake of entertainment. “I think that’s one thing that we haven’t had on this show… It hasn’t pitted [Santánico and Kate] against each other,” Davenport proudly stated, also crediting the action-packed show for its broad representation of women. “We get to show the different aspects of [being a woman]. The thing about people is that none of us are ever gonna be just strong and hard and brave all the time… we get to be kick-ass ladies, but we also get to be ladies!”
On Season 3…
While every actor is admittedly clueless as to what will be coming next season (pre-production work is very early at this point), it was suggested more than once that characters we thought were forgotten could pop up again. Cotrona also stated that he would like to see more of the Gecko brothers’ backstory explored next season, wanting “Dusk” to showcase the criminal moments that made the siblings who they are. Holtz was a bit more specific in his vision for Season 3: “I’d like to spend a whole episode handcuffed to D.J. battling it out with guns and tons of culebras,” he announced with a smile. “In a thong!” González cheekily quipped, before more seriously stating, “I would like to see more female characters… and I think [the female fans] really want that as well.” With a universe of stories left for Robert Rodriguez and showrunner Carlos Coto to mine, all of the above is certainly plausible.
We thank the cast and crew for taking the time to chat with us and for one hell of a season! Season 3 is slated to premiere in 2016.
“From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series” Seasons 1 and 2 are available on Amazon and iTunes. In addition, El Rey Network will be running a marathon of Season 2 on Sunday, November 1st, beginning at 10AM ET/PT. Be sure to catch up on all the twists, turns, and blood-sucking drama with Episodes 2.01-2.10!
Categorized:News
