For fans of Starz’ historical fantasy drama “Da Vinci’s Demons,” it’s been a long, agonizing wait between the end of season one in June of 2013, and season two, which begins March 22 at 9 p.m. ET.
When we last left Leonardo Da Vinci (Tom Riley), he was threatened with death on two sides: from his benefactor, Lorenzo de’ Medici (Elliot Cowan); and from the evil Riario who was blasting his way into the inescapable room hiding an injured Lorenzo, and Da Vinci himself.
When we spoke to show creator David S. Goyer and Riley about the massive cliffhanger, they disagreed slightly on exactly where things pick up.
“Immediately,” Riley answered with due haste.
“Well, sort of,” Goyer shot back.
And of course, that’s just the way of the show, which presents time as a fluid mechanism for storytelling, and often mixes magic, real history and science that seems like magic in a heady stew. Even with all that, though, it would take a real miracle for Da Vinci to get out of this situation. Luckily, Da Vinci makes his own miracles.
“We are going to get out of this in an ingenious way,” Riley said. “But we’re also going to get a glimpse of what will be.”
“I just like, at least in television, throwing a grenade into the room right before you leave for the end of the season,” Goyer added on the explosive ending.
“Literally in this case,” Riley quipped.
“Just blowing everything up and burning everything down,” Goyer continued. “That’s just the way I like my television. And then trying to pick up the pieces afterwards.”
Speaking of those afterwards pieces, as Riley teased earlier things don’t play out in a straightforward manner when we return. We left with the grenade in the room, so where do we pick up when season two begins?
“The first five minutes of the episode, the audience is going to be in for a fun surprise,” Goyer said, “because we actually start six, seven months later into the future. We’re going to get a glimpse of some stuff that happens near the end of the second season, [at] the beginning of season [two].”
Given the fluidity of time, we decided to jump ahead and ask how the team planned on topping this cliffhanger at the end of the ten episodes… Particularly as we had heard from Producers that there was some discussion whether the first season’s cliffhanger ending had set a precedent for further seasons.
Turning to his star, Goyer said, “Tom just read the outline for the final episode of season two, what’s your take on it?”
“I think we top it,” Riley answered. “Honestly, I think the whole of this season, I’ve seen the first few, and I think it tops anything we did in the first season. And I think the finale is going to be spectacular.”
“I didn’t just throw a hand grenade, I dropped an atomic bomb,” Goyer said.
“No, it isn’t just a hand grenade, it’s about a 100 hand grenades,” Riley added. “It’s a nuclear bomb.”
Given the insane science on display on the show, it’s entirely possible they’re not speaking in metaphors.
“Da Vinci’s Demons” returns to Starz March 22 at 9 p.m. ET.
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