Upload season 2 begins as Nathan Brown’s (Robbie Amell) ex-girlfriend Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) enters the digital afterlife of Lakeview claiming to have uploaded herself as a permanent resident. While Nathan copes with the unexpected absence of his customer service “angel” and love interest Nora, Ingrid’s presence in Lakeview and desire to win back Nathan generates quite a storm of events, especially involving the virtual world’s versatile assistant known as A.I. Guy (Owen Daniels). Daniels is the son of Upload creator Greg Daniels and has taken part in writing seven episodes across seasons 1 and 2 in addition to playing A.I. Guy in front of the camera.
Allegra Edwards and Owen Daniels spoke with Screen Rant about Ingrid and A.I. Guy’s respective storylines in Upload season 2 and how their characters influence each other.
Screen Rant: Allegra, season 1 ended with Ingrid arriving in Lakeview seemingly as an upload this time. What can you share about her plans for herself and for Nathan in season 2?
Allegra Edwards: I think she’s got a lot of plans. I think she’s totally excited about the world of possibilities that this opens up. I think she thinks of them as the prom king and prom queen of Lakeview, like “Here we are, you’ve missed us! Have a parade!” And there’s nothing in the way because distance was the only problem. She was slow to figure out that distance is not actually the problem. There’s a lot more to it than that. So, while I think she’s on a trajectory to be the puppet master ’cause she’s so used to it, he’s not as easy to control as she thinks. And so, she goes on quite a journey figuring that out.
Owen, how does Ingrid’s more permanent presence change things for A.I. Guy’s work in Lakeview?
Owen Daniels: Ingrid helps A.I. guy very, very much. Allegra helps Owen very, very much. Allegra kind of snaps A.I. Guy on the trajectory towards consciousness a little bit this next season. She and A.I. Guy both, as Allegra has said, are very isolated and very alone, and that’s what they have in common. So, they come together and it’s beautiful and it helps them grow in this next season. We have a lot of freaky freakin’ scenes together. They are very strange. It’s not normal. Either I’m a baby and she’s cradling me, or she is saying goodbye and I’m 105 years old. A lot of strange stuff goes down on season 2, but it’s very fun, very good.
Allegra, it might be easy to write off Ingrid as this entitled crazy person, but I love how the show also explores her backstory and motivations, especially in season 2. What has it been like for you getting to further portray your character’s complexity?
Allegra Edwards: It’s a total delight. I think it’s too easy to lean into a stock version of her or a caricature, or even just an arch villain. As we know, any great villain — which I dont believe Ingrid is, I think she’s way more complex than that — has a reason that they are the way they are. In season 2, I’m really curious to see how audiences react to her desperation. A lot of the pain that people inflict on other people is a response to pain that they’ve felt and don’t know what to do with. I think she tries really hard and she’s really desperate, and she’s really lonely. I think she has armored herself for years and you’re seeing more chinks in the armor, little spots in her armor. I’m excited for people to see where she is now.
Owen, I know you’ve taken part in the show’s writing process, as well. How has that experience impacted your approach when you’re in your role as an actor?
Owen Daniels: That’s a great question. I try not to write a lot of the A.I. Guy stuff, actually. I try to stay away from it. I try to let other people take that or else I’ll be like, “A.I. Guy is going to make out with Jennifer Lopez.” Then they’ll be like, “No, we’re not using that,” and I’ll go, “What?” But I think that it really helps you understand the story and what you need to execute in the series. Once you’ve worked on all the episodes and helped write them, you’re like, “OK, I know what this scene is about and I know that this scene needs to make this thing happen so we can get to here.” It does help you understand the scenes very well, so it shapes your performance a little bit. I really do wish I could have been in a scene with J. Lo, that would have been wonderful. I’m a big fan, so maybe season 3. We’ll see.
All seven episodes of Upload season 2 release March 11 on Prime Video.
