‘Wayward Pines’ Finale: What Happened, Plus Could There Be A Season 2?

Wayward Pines concluded its first – and probably only – season with an ending that left things open for perhaps another run, but that doesn’t mean there will be more episodes. After all, it was planned out as a limited series and to only be this one season.

In the Wayward Pines series finale, following David Pilcher turning off the power to the town and therefore allowing the Abbies to get inside, Ethan led those who survived the attack to the bunker and through the tunnels to the mountain. In order to ensure the survival of his family and the others, Ethan blew himself up in the elevator and killed the Abbies coming after them. Meanwhile, Pam’s attempt to talk to David led to her being put back into a cryo-chamber briefly before she ultimately killed him.

However, that wasn’t it. Yes, the townspeople were safe (at least for the time being), but the ending showed why the episode was titled “Cycle.” When Ben came to in the hospital after he was injured in the escape, he found out that Amy was a nurse and had been for a couple of months. But more than a couple of months had passed since his father’s sacrifice. It had been more than three years, and the First Generation had taken over the town and put him and all the adults back into cryo. As Ben discovered when he left the hospital and walked around the town, much like Ethan had when he first arrived, the reckonings were back, there was a statue of Pilcher, and some things just wouldn’t be changed.

The series didn’t end the same way the book did, as executive producer Chad Hodge told Entertainment Weekly, and the ending speaks to whether “the whole thing [is] a brilliant idea or a depressing one” and “was the most in the weird tone of the show and in the truth of the show.”

“In the books, everybody goes back into suspension realizing that we can’t survive against the Abbies for now. Everybody goes back into suspension for several thousand more years. ‘Let’s just go back into these chambers. This is not our planet right now. Let’s see what happens when we wake up in 10,000 years.’ They wake up and you see Ethan’s eye pop open and that’s the end of the book.”

So why was there a change in the ending? It was because of the addition of the First Generation to the series. However, according to Hodge, just because the First Generation is in charge doesn’t mean they’re the only ones awake. The EP explained that they can’t run the town alone, so the person who is dead in the final moment is likely someone from Group C, the group that Pilcher wanted to start over with after Ethan told everyone the truth.

Given the ending, does that mean there could be a Wayward Pines Season 2? As the Inquisitr previously reported, FOX was promoting the finale as a series finale, but it turns out that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the end.

Hodge told EW that while the ending “was not meant to tease a season 2,” there have been “some preliminary discussions.”

Furthermore, M. Night Shyamalan told Deadline that he and Blake Crouch “do have an idea.”

If there is a Wayward Pines Season 2 – and that seems like a big if – things would obviously have to change. After all, Ethan and Pilcher are dead, the adults are still in cryo at the end of the finale, and the First Generation is in charge.

Wayward Pines aired on FOX. What would you want to see in a second season if there is one?

[Image via FOX]