‘Defiance’ EP Kevin Murphy Talks Season 2 Premiere

FanBolt had the opportunity to chat with Kevin Murphy, the Executive Producer of Defiance, about the upcoming season. Check out some of the highlights below!

The new season feels a lot more dark and edgy. Was there a conscious move towards that for the second season?

Kevin Murphy: Well there’s a certain darkness in the premise because last year Defiance was a very sunny, optimistic place.

Now we’re looking at an occupied territory, and it becomes a very different show. And it becomes, how did the members of our cast deal with the fact that everything has been taken away from them?

And if you remember the end of Season 1 the last episode was called, ‘Everything was Broken,’ which is the name for the Bob Dylan song. And that’s where we come in. Nobody is where we left them.

Nolan is no longer lawkeeper. Irisa is no longer completely in control of her own mind. Rafe McCawley no longer has a mine and he’s going to lose more as the season goes on. Datak is no longer in charge. Doc Yewll is no longer the town doctor. Amanda is no longer Mayor.

Stahma is the one person who is no longer a housewife, but she kind of likes that, and she no longer has her husband. Alak no longer has the luxury of being a spoiled rich kid and he’s actually called upon to be the—at least the symbolic—head of the crime family.

Everybody is at a place of crisis and change and trying to figure out how they’re going to put their lives back together. That’s basically the story of Season 2. You know, watching who succeeds and who falls.

Who is your favorite character to write for?

Kevin Murphy: Datak and Stahma are probably my favorite. For me, when I’m sitting down and doing a scene or doing a rewrite on a script, I sort of get happy when I get to Stahma and Datak. And this year I really enjoyed Datak and Yewll and they’ve become my two favorite couples.

But there’s some great stuff coming down the road from Datak and Yewll because Yewll is so utterly unafraid of Datak, and Datak is so driven by vanity and how he’s perceived the fact that Yewll is the only person in his life that gives him the straight scoop. Even his wife doesn’t really speak directly. She handles him and he hates to be handled.

So in a certain way, even though Datak likes to be respected, he doesn’t like it when Stahma outsmarts him. And Doc Yewll, at least you know where you stand with her.

We saw what was left of Los Angeles. We got a glimpse of Chicago. Are we going to see any other parts of the country this year?

Kevin Murphy: Yes, we’re going to get a real good look at New York before the season is over, and that’s about the only other city that we’re going to be visiting. We also going to hear a bit about New York and we’re going to learn a bit more about Amanda’s time in New York.

You know what, that’s actually not true. There’s one other city that we’re going to get a little glimpse of before the season is over. One of our characters, who I will not name, is going to be visiting San Francisco, which is where the game is.

Defiance premieres Thursday, June 19th at 8/9c on Syfy!

Photo Credit: Syfy