When Sugar debuted in 2024, audiences initially thought Colin Farrell’s character was just a regular ol’ Los Angeles private detective. Sure, he was unusually empathetic, could seemingly communicate with animals, and spoke an alarming array of languages. But most folks were not anticipating the mid-season twist that revealed John Sugar’s quirks were because he’s not from planet Earth. That reveal was the big shake-up in season one; now that season two is here, the fact that Sugar‘s main character is an extraterrestrial is an open secret—sort of. The people in Sugar’s orbit are still unaware, but viewers know he’s hiding a blue complexion behind his human disguise, and his loneliness now that the rest of his species has departed is a major emotional theme throughout the season. Sam Catlin, who came aboard as showrunner for season two of the Apple TV show, knows nothing will ever top the alien reveal. So he avoided even trying to do that. Instead, he went for a more slow-burning sort of tension.
“Suspense is usually better than surprise,” he told the Hollywood Reporter in a new interview. “Give the information to the audience, and then let it percolate. After a short while, those types of surprises and turns kind of suck. You can very often feel that the narrative is constructed to make them land, and it’s very often at the expense of the organic evolution of the character, which is really what should always be the priority.”
