Servant, Apple TV+’s taut thriller, returns for its second season on January 15. The streaming platform has already renewed M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological drama for a third season, giving the auteur space to further explore the grief and trauma of its main characters.
Those characters include Dorothy (Lauren Ambrose) and Sean Turner (Toby Kebbell), who recently lose their child, and the babysitter Leanne (Nell Tiger Free) who switched out the doll they were using as therapy for another living baby and upended the household in the process. Now it seems she’s missing in action along with baby Jericho, leaving the couple more desperate than ever to find them both.
Shyamalan spoke with Screen Rant about exploring different angles and opening up new dimensions of storytelling while maintaining the Turner house as the hub around which the show revolves.
One of the things I like most is how it feels like the world is opening up, even though we’re still in that claustrophobic home with our actors and our characters. What is it like approaching season 2 in that regard?
M. Night Shyamalan: In regards to the setting of the show, staying in the house is critical for me. And it’s very exciting for me to do an entire show and never leave a house. But I wanted each season for us to grow what we’re defining as the house, so you see in this season that there’s a new part of the house that you never saw before that becomes very important. Hopefully, in my mind, I have two more movements for us in the future.
Right now, we’re seeing how Dorothy and Sean’s relationship holds up in the face of everything, as they’re dealing with the guilt and denial that they’re going through. How strong or not is this relationship, and how do you see them dealing with each other as the show progresses?
M. Night Shyamalan: What I love about this conceit of the show, and why I think it was the first show in forever that I was interested in doing, is this aspect of it. It’s a couple that won’t have the conversation that they’re supposed to have; the very, very hard conversation. They may not survive that conversation, and that’s why they’re not having it. But they’re doing everything else, and they’re living this pretend life.
And this young woman comes in and stirs up everything in this way and gives them an opportunity to keep pretending. And it’s not healthy to not have that conversation. Even as we avoid pain, as we avoid uncertainty and unknown, we just spiral and spin. As a filmmaker, it’s very fun to to see this couple. It’s poignant; a couple that loves each other but won’t have this conversation, and all of the pain that’s gonna happen because of that.
On the other hand, you have Leanne, who seemed almost malevolent at first. Now we’re seeing a very different side of her. At the same time, she’s involved with this really dark element of a cult. Can you talk about dangling that carrot for the audience, who doesn’t know everything about her yet?
M. Night Shyamalan: I’ve always thought of the show as two stories: this family that’s refusing to mourn, and then the mythology of Leanne on top of it. It’s really fun to see those two aspects, especially as you’re taking it in this long form. You say, “Oh, it’s about this family,” and then, “Who is this girl?” And then all this stuff that we start to realize, as the show progresses, about what her architecture is. Her architecture is very, very important to the show.
We have Julian who is sucked into the family drama too, but I was really interested in his dynamic with Natalie. Can you talk a little bit about what she brings to him, both in terms of faith and as opposed to the life-sucking energy of Dorothy and Sean?
M. Night Shyamalan: I think Julian is dealing with his own trauma, and he goes to addiction and excess and cynicism and nihilism. Natalie maybe is that foil, where she’s talking about the unknown and believes in energy and movement and Kumbaya things. They’re a beautiful, odd couple in that manner, and I think he would aspire to be like Natalie in his heart. Maybe he is; it’s just that life and circumstances have shut him off.
Servant season 2 premieres on Apple TV+ January 15.
