22-02-2025
'Surface' Season 2 on Apple TV+: Gugu Mbatha-Raw goes from 'the hunted to the hunter' in mystery series
The mysterious Apple TV+ show Surface, starring the captivating Gugu Mbatha-Raw, has returned for Season 2 with a more compelling, twisty and thrilling story. Adding Phil Dunster, Freida Pinto, and Millie Brady to the cast, Mbatha-Raw heads to London to learn more about her past.
The season begins with Sophie (Mbatha-Raw) entering the world of wealthy British society, exploring a previous friendship she had with heiress Eliza Huntley (Brady), who also has a brother, Quinn (Dunster). What's particularly appealing about Season 2 of Surface is the impactful evolution for Sophie, where she takes a particularly active role uncovering her past.
"I think any character that you play for a long time, and this is the first lead role that I've done a second season of, you want to feel like the character evolves and the journey expands," Mbatha-Raw, who is also an executive producer on the show, told Yahoo Canada. "And I think it was really exciting in Season 1 to have this psychological, internal mystery of Sophie. But now I think she goes from the hunted to the hunter."
"She's now in London, she's on a mission, almost like an investigator, to try and piece together her past, especially the death of her mother, which she believes is somehow related to this aristocratic family, the Huntleys. So it's great because the world has expanded. ... Sophie is much more active. She has a lot more autonomy. And as she says at the end of Episode 1 she has nothing to lose, which makes her quite a dangerous force. And she gets involved in this power and corruption, which is a dangerous place to be for her as well."
In the first episode of Surface Season 2, the show really establishes the interesting and curious relationship between Sophie and Eliza, a particularly engaging element of the series.
"I think that their past holds such a depth for both of them, I think they've got this real magnetic pull towards one another, that even despite having not seen each other for years, as soon as Sophie's back on the scene, it's like there's this magnetism between them," Brady said. "To play that push and pull between being so drawn to someone, but knowing that they're potentially dangerous or they might abandon you again."
"For my character, ... her deepest wound is this abandonment wound. ... It's not so easy when someone's hurt you to just be like, 'OK see you later.' ... It's almost like a morbid curiosity that she wants to be in the same room as her. She wants to understand why she left her."
Back when the first season of Surface premiered in 2022, showrunner Veronica West highlighted to Yahoo Canada that the show is "unapologetically feminine," including the "eye candy" of the clothes and accessories Sophie owns, and beautiful home she inhabited in the first season.
Moving into Season 2 that's something that's remained, particularly when it comes to Sophie stepping into this aristocratic society, through the Huntley family.
Adding to that is Pinto's character Grace, who's engaged to Quinn. Her love for Quinn has Grace managing her new life as part of this high-profile family, which she also confronts with her own ambitions.
"It's a choice that she's making. ... She has an out, if she wants to and she can leave, but it's interesting that she sticks and stays," Pinto said. "And part of it is definitely falling in love with this man who she probably sees a different side to than the rest of the world does."
Pinto added that West was particularly interested in embracing Grace's culture, largely shown through the costume choices for the character throughout the season.
"I knew what I was walking into and how they would embrace every aspect. ... She's going to dress well, she's going to carry herself in this family as an equal, even though she may not necessarily be of the same level," Pinto highlighted.
"Veronica was also very unafraid of embracing culture ... and it's through wardrobe, because we are not doing a deep dive into where [Grace] came from, but you see hints of it. It's a brave showrunner out there who says, 'Yeah, I want this in the show,' and producers like Hello Sunshine that support those decisions."
